Hard Drive power consumption

Try this Power Supply Calculator.

Since you haven't mentioned the hard disk drive's interface I'll provide some examples:

WD Caviar Blue 500 GB SATA Hard Drives (WD5000AAKX)
Interface: SATA 6 Gb/s
Read/Write: 6.8 Watts
Idle: 6.10 Watts

WD Caviar Blue 500 GB SATA Hard Drives (WD5000AAKS)
Interface: SATA 3 Gb/s
Read/Write: 8.77 Watts
Idle: 8.40 Watts

WD Caviar Blue 500 GB PATA Hard Drives (WD5000AAKB)
Interface: PATA 100 MB/s
Read/Write: 8.77 Watts
Idle: 8.40 Watts

All of the drives are SATA 3 Gb/S. Sorry for the lack of specification.

Hmmm, I have to say, I don't know what a DC++ hub is? (googled a bit but nothing too conclusive off so little info...)


No matter, hard drives that VERY little power (like 7 to 10 watts...)

http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.aspx?id=100


Even if you figure 300watts for your system to run(which would a very high estimate) that leaves 400watts for hard drives, so you could connect forty (40) hard drives...

So, can't see how power will hold you back from any practical size drive array....

And, since 2 Tb hard drives are cheap and easy to come by, can see why you would need very many in the first place....


There are two schools of thought on running a computer one says running 24x7 is good since on/off transients are what usually kill electronic devices....

That said, if you run Win 7 operating system, it will spin down your un-used drives. Then, ONLY if someone tries to access one will they spin up again for use....

BTW, how about a NAS which packages up your drives nice and neat and if things are real important you can RAID mirror them just in case of a crash...