External 3.5" HDD box connected to USB4/Thunderbolt - shall I still need a power cord?

C

Coolio

Weaksauce
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Jan 8, 2021
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[CORRECTED: I called it initially 3.5" SSD by mistake, it is HDD of course!]

Hi guys,

my NUC's internal storage capabilities are limited with M.2 and 2.5" SSDs, which are not cheap, so I want to move the maximum of data to the external 3.5" HDD.
Since 3.5" disks need an extra 12V power, which MiniPCs can't provide them with, self-powered boxes like "********** USB 3.0 External Hard Drive Enclosure for 3.5/2.5 Inch SATA Hard Drives" [Amazon's link gets deleted :unsure:] help to solve this problem.
However, my NUC has a Thunderbolt-enabled USB4 with Power Delivery, which (as per TB spec) should deliver at least 15W.

If I connect my HDD to the aforementioned USB4 port, shall I still need the self-powered box, or finally not?

Thank you!
 
Last edited:
You said SSD but I'm guessing you mean hard drive?

I haven't seen anything that supports Power Delivery, but I haven't really been looking either.
 
pendragon1 said:
no, its still only 5v, afaik. youll need a powered enclosure.
Click to expand...
Wiki says that yes, 5V is the minimum for USB4, but can be up to 20V and even 48V - so I will ask Intel support for that. As for Thunderbold spec (since my USB4 is TB-enabled), looks like it doesn't exceed 5V, but maybe someone from HardForum can have a look at pages 9-12, as I'm way too far from electricity.
 
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