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ATX power for multiple USB drives

S

ShaynaLu

n00b
Joined
Dec 24, 2013
Messages
7
Newbie here. Please have patience..

I have several external USB drives (Seagate, Verbatim, etc.). All are 12 volt with varying amperage.

I also have just as many AC adapters for same.

Is it possible to use an ATX power supply to power just these USB drives?

The drives are connected to my PC via a 7 port powered Startech USB 3.0 hub with power coming from the PC's power supply.

Can the molex plugs on the ATX be adapted to the 5.5x2.1mm plugs on the external drives?

I would like to have the only connection to the PC to be the USB cable, and possibly a common ground, if necessary.

Any help or WARNINGS woud be appreciated.

ShaynaLu
 
Well if you are using a "powered" USB HUB, then it should be getting power from an external source. If the HUB does not have a power adapter that plugs into the wall then it's not really a "powered" USB HUB despite what it might claim to be.

What you need is a real powered USB HUB. One that has it's own external power supply.
 
It's not the power for the hub that I'm having the issue with, it's the 12 volt power to spin the drives.
Right now I have AC adapters plugged into power bars and a rat's nest of wires. This works, but I just wanted to power all of the drives from one AC adapter RE:ATX power supply.
 
What? The power for the HUB is to power the devices connected to the HUB. If you get a HUB with it's own power supply, it will supply it's own power to whatever you plug into that HUB.
 
Skillz said:
What? The power for the HUB is to power the devices connected to the HUB. If you get a HUB with it's own power supply, it will supply it's own power to whatever you plug into that HUB.
Click to expand...

I think the OP is talking about 3.5" drives, not 2.5" drives or flash drives. USB hubs won't power 3.5" drives AFAIK.

OP, if you are indeed talking about 3.5" drives, If you don't mind voiding warranties, yes you can do exactly what you're asking. But it might not be easy to do what you ask as some enclosures need to get power via a board that's connected to the AC adapter to power the USB connection/USB to SATA conversion board. In other words, you may have to buy more 3.5" to USB adapters (not enclosures). Something like this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812156017&ignorebbr=1

From there take apart the external enclosures and remove the hard drives from their enclosures. Then hook up the hard drives to a good ATX PSU. After that, do the paperclip PSU trick. Now you can start up hard drives by just flipping the PSU's on/off switch.

Once you have figured which enclosures or adapters can get power from the USB ports for the USB to SATA conversion board, then connect all of those 3.5" to USB adapters/boards to a single powered USB hub. Now you've accomplished what you're asking for.

Though depending on how much money you need to spend on those adapters (and the still tangled mess from the SATA to USB adapters connecting to the USB hub), it might be more cost-effective to just buy a larger external HDD enclosure and putting the hard drives in there. Something like this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816132016&ignorebbr=1
 
Last edited:
Thanks Dangman, that was more like what I meant.

The part that I was wanting to know about was can I remove a molex plug and use the yellow 12 volt and the black ground wires with a 5.5 x 2.1mm Power Male Jack Adapter Cable Plug Connector and plug it directly into the portable drive. All of the drives are 12 volt and .5 or .6 amps.
This would spin the drive(s) and the powered USB would take care of the data transfer.

Similar to powering SATA or the old IDE drives.

Your average PSU has 3 or 4 molex plugs on each line, so theoretically, it could power up drives equal to the available amperage.
 
ShaynaLu said:
Thanks Dangman, that was more like what I meant.

The part that I was wanting to know about was can I remove a molex plug and use the yellow 12 volt and the black ground wires with a 5.5 x 2.1mm Power Male Jack Adapter Cable Plug Connector and plug it directly into the portable drive. All of the drives are 12 volt and .5 or .6 amps.
This would spin the drive(s) and the powered USB would take care of the data transfer.
Click to expand...
I've never seen anyone do that before. Theoritically it should work since they're using the same voltage. With that said, more than likely that's gonna require a lot of soldering work since you're going to have to strip off the molex connectors and solder the +12V and the ground to the cable plug connector.
 
Sure if you are comfortable using solder and heat shrink it shouldn't be a problem. If they are all the same size, you might google "dc power tip pigtail" and buy some pigtails so that you can preserve your wall warts.

And of course the pin 14 trick on the 24 pin motherboard harness will get you powered up.
 
Do all those harddrives HAVE to be portable? Sounds like you need to build a NAS for them and/or just stick them in your computer permanently.
 
Thanks for all the replies.

I started off using portable drives and then switched to 8 bay hard drive enclosures.

The stuff on these drives isn't accessed very often, but I still have to go in them once in a while and I like scan them occasionally just to keep them fresh.

I thought it would be nice to have them all on one shelf with one power source and one USB all clean and neat.

I was looking at these to connect the power:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/10pcs-DC-5-...ED-/350824652859?ssPageName=ADME:L:OC:CA:3160

I guess I'll try with a couple of older drives and see what happens.

Thanks again for your help.
 
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Tsumi, I checked your link to the multi power plug and it looks like a keeper.

That I what I was looking for before I started this ATX project.

Thanks!
 
Seems like all that money wasted in this endeavor could be put towards building a new NAS with newer drives.

How many drives do you have and what's the total storage space for all of them?
 
All together, I have collected 12 drives over the years.

The drives are all assorted sizes and makes.

120GB to 2TB

I have never totaled the storage.

Obviously, I never had a plan when I started. I just kept filling them up and buying more storage.

Starting now and knowing what I know now, would probably choose a NAS system.

Using and old ATX PSU to power all the drives I have already doesn't seem like an expensive way to do this. I have the drives already and I have several used power supplies, too, so my only extra cost is the plugs for the molex cables (about $6) and a shelf to put the drives on.

It's just a project I wanted to play with, but wasn't sure if it would work the way I wanted.

I do a lot of video work converting 8MM and VHS and the like to DVD, mostly family stuff.
I keep copies for backup purposes in ISO format in case a family member wants a copy.

I started keeping each family's files on separate drives (drives were small then) and it all kind of got out of control. Now all their friends want their videos converted, too.

I now have 2 Mediasonic 8 drive Proboxes (USB 3.0) that will run up to 3TB for each drive.

This was just having fun and now I can try it, thanks to you guys!

ShaynaLu
 
ShaynaLu said:
Using and old ATX PSU to power all the drives I have already doesn't seem like an expensive way to do this. I have the drives already and I have several used power supplies, too, so my only extra cost is the plugs for the molex cables (about $6) and a shelf to put the drives on.
Click to expand...
But are those PSUs actually good PSUs? No point in doing this project if the PSUs you're going to be using are crap and therefore likely to kill your drives.

ShaynaLu said:
I now have 2 Mediasonic 8 drive Proboxes (USB 3.0) that will run up to 3TB for each drive.

This was just having fun and now I can try it, thanks to you guys!
Click to expand...
Wait, so are you going to do this project still or you're going to take apart your 12 external drives and place them inside the Mediasonic enclosures?
 
Gonna do the project.

The Mediasonics are almost full of drives already. A poor person's raid system.

The old power supplies are all good, just replaced with higher wattage units.

It's supposed to be a fun project, not life or death.
 
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