[SOLVED] SATA III to USB Type-C versus SATA III to USB 3.0 to install an internal 7200RPM 1TB HD

[Oxidane]

Hello. I am building a tabletop arcade system using a Raspberry Pi. I am sort of on a budget so I am wondering how would you suggest supplying power to the hard-drive plus fans?

I am capable of doing electrical work if it means modifying an extra piece of gear that I have laying around (i.e. a laptop charger). However, I would need some general insight on the additional materials I will need in order to make such modifications.

What would you say my best option is?

 

[4745454b]

The fans, as a dc motor are easy. The drive is a bit more. Going from memory the drive will want both 12V and 5V electricity. 12V to spin the motor in the drive, 5v to ruin the logic board. So you need both.

The easiest way i know to do this is with an old psu laying around. Depending on models you are only looking to use~30W or so, usually less. You could use just about any psu and even power your pi with something like this. That way you only have the one psu.

Power Your Pi with an ATX PSU using this HAT | #piday

If you’re a scavenger (like me) of 20- or 24-pin ATX PSUs you might be intrigued by this Pi HAT from Hackaday.io user [tomtibbetts] that powers the Pi and plenty of other projects, provides c…

blog.adafruit.com

 

[Oxidane]

Hello, I am currently looking to build a bar-top arcade cabinet using the Raspberry Pi 4 Model B (2GB version). I would like to use a Western Digital Blue 7200RPM 1TB Hard Drive, however, I will need an adapter cable to convert SATA III to either USB 3.0 or USB Type-C.

Will the USB 3.0 bottleneck the speed of the hard drive? Do you think I should be using the USB Type-C cable instead?

In addition, on a completely unrelated note, I will be using a Mean Well LRS-50 Series 50W 12V power supply, and I was wondering what kind of cable would I need to use in order to supply power to the hard-drive?

Could I also use this particular power supply to also supply power to the Raspberry Pi and two 12V fans? What cable would I need for the Raspberry Pi?

In addition, what cables would I need for the two fans (note that they come with four pin cables out of the box). Is it possible to add a resistor to modify the connection to 10V instead of 12V (in order to reduce fan speed)?

I apologize for sounding stupid, I just simply don't understand electronics. If given proper direction (i.e. following a YouTube video), I could do some basic soldering and electrical work. The main reason why I am taking on this project is more-so because I want to put my wood-working skills to the test by building a nice looking arcade cabinet.

 

[USAFRet]

Will the USB 3.0 bottleneck the speed of the hard drive?

No.

There are multiple cables to connect a regular HDD to USB.
Don't reinvent the wheel.

 

[Alabalcho]

Whether you use USB-C or USB-A cable, does not matter - neither will be the bottleneck for your setup. Please keep in mind you'll need special boot loader in your RPi if you plan to boot off that hard drive (although I'd recommend sticking to microSD card for boot).

As for using 12V power supply: You can get relatively cheap 12V-to-5V buck converters, and power the RPi thru 40-pin connector. As for the fans - you don't need anything fancy. If you want to control the speed with a resistor in the power line, get simplest fan with two pins. That four-pin fan uses PWM to control the speed, and it is not trivial to get this working.

 

[hotaru.hino]

If you're trying to use this as a learning experience, rather than give you the answers, you should answer the following on your own:

Will the USB 3.0 bottleneck the speed of the hard drive? Do you think I should be using the USB Type-C cable instead?

• How fast can your hard drive actually transfer something? (hint: use a benchmarking tool like CrystalDiskMark)
• How fast is USB 3.0?

In addition, on a completely unrelated note, I will be using a Mean Well LRS-50 Series 50W 12V power supply, and I was wondering what kind of cable would I need to use in order to supply power to the hard-drive?

• What's the power connector of your hard drive?
• What's the pin-out of the power connector of the hard drive?
• What electricity does the hard drive actually need? (hint: look at the label)

Could I also use this particular power supply to also supply power to the Raspberry Pi and two 12V fans? What cable would I need for the Raspberry Pi?

• What type of electricity does the Raspberry Pi need? (Hint: look in https://www.raspberrypi.org/documentation/computers/raspberry-pi.html)
• Is there anything on the market that can give you a ready made solution already?

In addition, what cables would I need for the two fans (note that they come with four pin cables out of the box). Is it possible to add a resistor to modify the connection to 10V instead of 12V (in order to reduce fan speed)?

• Why not try it out and see?
  • Though note that resistors have a wattage rating, so may want to be mindful about this.