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Hard Drive current use?

A

Arcygenical

Fully [H]
Joined
Jun 10, 2005
Messages
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I'm wondering if anyone can give me a quote on how much current a HD should use on both the 5v and 12v lines... I'm talking 250-500gb 7200rpm drives here. :)

I'm considering making a single power rail for all of my harddrives, using 1-2 molex connectors and some thicker guage wire.

Conservative estimates point to 25w total consumption, but if anyone had some hard facts, or general opinions, I'd be interested in hearing them.
 
On startup, drives generally use 1.5 to 2A on the 12V line. If you've got staggered spinup on your controller, you should be fine with this; otherwise consider running one line to half and another line to the other half.

It's best to budget power for drives as if they took 3A@12V. In practice it's more like 1A on 5 and 12V rails at idle and a little more when seeking.
 
unhappy_mage said:
On startup, drives generally use 1.5 to 2A on the 12V line. If you've got staggered spinup on your controller, you should be fine with this; otherwise consider running one line to half and another line to the other half.

It's best to budget power for drives as if they took 3A@12V. In practice it's more like 1A on 5 and 12V rails at idle and a little more when seeking.
Click to expand...

Thanks, that's exactly what I was going to do... 3A is very manageable for my 5 drives... 15A current draw is just nearing the maximum for a normal 18 guage Molex. I plan on using 16 guage wire, which should be good up to 22A.

Much appreciated.
 
the most recent SR benchmark DB claims to have values on power consumption and peak current usage. Maybe check there?
 
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