Question about SATA power supply on RADXA ROCK 5 ITX

#1

Hi,

I wanted to know if there are any supply limits from the SATA power ports, the question is you can power 1 or more 3.5-inch NAS disks at the same time? Or as a precaution, I take power from the PSU?

Thanks,
Dany

#2

The four SATA ports of Rock 5 ITX only allow data transfer and do not provide power.
In my case (and probably yours), power is provided by an ATX PSU (refurbished 80+ gold 300 W) as it is used as NAS with 3 mechanical 3"5 HDDs in RAID 5 mode. If You only plug the data ports, the drives simply dont spin: You have to connect the 4-pin MOLEX plugs of the drives to the PSU.
So, the difficult task is finally to find a compact low power PSU to get the most efficient solution and maybe add some power splitters or converters (MOLEX to SATA power converter if 2"5 drives are used). To feed 4 drives and the board at full load, 200W is almost too high…

#3

Redxa provides some power cables for SATA…


Other question is, if 12V power supply can handle at least 2 SATA HDDs.

#4

If you power it from an ATX power supply with a sata power cable, you can power the sata directly from the power supply on the ATX
If not, then you need to use the 4-pin power supply next to the sata connector to power the sata.