Connecting 2 HDD's onto same power cord.


  1. Posts : 162
    Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
       #1

    Connecting 2 HDD's onto same power cord.


    I am wanting to install another HDD and possible a 3rd in my computer. Each dedicated to movies, pics, etc...
    If i use one power cord will that work and if so should i be concerned with overall power supply?

    Windows 7
    MSI z87 g55 Mobo.

    Through my mobo i can disable the other drives from booting and still use them for storage correct?
      My Computer


  2. Posts : 3,371
    W10 Pro desktop, W11 laptop, W11 Pro tablet (all 64-bit)
       #2

    I suppose you could get really crazy and overload the psu with too many drives but, for the most part, you can use splitters to be able to supply power to additional drives.

    You can specify which drive is the boot drive so, yes, you can use the other drives for storage. It's best though to format those drives to remove the old OS and claim it's drive space in order to increase available storage space.
      My Computer


  3. Posts : 162
    Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
    Thread Starter
       #3

    okay.. i read up that most hdd only use 12v of power and most of the time are idle and my corsair 600w has several connectors on the same power cord
      My Computer


  4. Posts : 162
    Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
    Thread Starter
       #4

    One quick question. Just installed the drive and its broken down into 2 volumes. A f, and a G drive both set at 250gb each. I want to make these volumes one and erase everything on them. How do i do that.
      My Computer


  5. Posts : 162
    Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
    Thread Starter
       #5

    LOL nvm, with a little tinkering under management i deleted both sectors and did a new volume, simple as that
      My Computer


  6. Posts : 2,973
    Windows 7 Professional 64bit SP1
       #6

    Most power supplies come with a SATA cable with 2 or 3 SATA power plugs on it so yes, it's perfectly fine to use one cable for multiple drives.
      My Computer


  7. Posts : 1,519
    Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit, Windows 8.1 64-bit, Mac OS X 10.10, Linux Mint 17, Windows 10 Pro TP
       #7

    Just for clarity, it's the SATA Data Cable that can't be split, only one drive per cable. That's different from the 40-pin or 80-pin PATA cable that has 3 plugs, one for the motherboard [end plug], one for the Master drive [other end plug] and one for the Slave drive [middle plug] and they are usually marked as to which is which.
      My Computer


 

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