Powering Hard Drives without PC Power Supply

[Donmegel]

I want to power more than one hard drive but not inside a PC. I could use a PC power supply but it uses too much power for just 2 or 3 drives. Multiple external enclosurs would work but then I need an outlet for each. A multibay enclosure would work but are expensive. Is there a power efficient way of running multiple drives?

 

[TomTom111]

Without getting an enclosure for each, and a power plug for each, not really.
They need power somehow, whether it be from another SATA power plug, or an external source like a wall outlet or separate PSU.

HDDs only take up ~13W .

 

[13thmonkey]

a psu will take as much power as the components connected to it need, so however you choose to power the hdd's you'll use the same power. therefore use a PSU, as your argument of a pc power supply using too much power is flawed.

 

[masteranu]

How do you plan to connect sata cabels?
I think you can take power cabels same route!
I disagree with power consumption
No hard drive use that much power
They only take 0.5A-.07A maximum
Eqals 6w in most cases
So just use a longer cable to power it up!!

 

[Donmegel]

I'm not making an argument for anything, just looking for best solution. Will a PSU not pull a minimum amount of power? I am trying to find the lowest power option.

 

[masteranu]

There is no difference
No matter how you supply the power to hard disk
It only takes same amount of power from both sources
So there is nothing call "low power option"
But if psu is efficient one rated bronze or above
You can save more power

 

[fzabkar]

I would pay attention to load balancing, otherwise the PSU may not regulate properly.