BleepingComputer.com: hard drive power splitting safe or death??

i have a 650w power supply with 6 sata power cables, and i split all of them with a total of 12. my question is it safe to run it like that and will it jack up the power supply and or the "mobo, hard drives". when i start the computer it shows all but to of the drives " i dont know if the drives are not working or the two are not getting the power they need" ????????? ANY IDEAS

Different drives will consume different amounts of electricity, called AMPS. If you draw too many amps for a system, it will drag the voltage down a bit.

You didn't say how many amps each 12v supply has. With 650W, it certainly should be enough.


Try unplugging one of the disks that DOES come up and then see if the disks that you say don't come up finally will work. That should rule out whether it is the drives or the power supply.


DR

how many amps does it take to run a hard drive??

What brand is your power supply? Some brands exagerrate their power suppliy's capabilities.

Here is a short article about power supplies and amperage:

http://www.smartcomputing.com/Editorial/ar...8.asp&guid=


How many amps does it say are in the 12v legs? And are there two 12v legs? Or just one?


DR