Which PicoPSU for 5 x 3.5inch HDD and controller?

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wojtek
Posts: 107
Joined: Sun Sep 23, 2007 3:11 am
Location: London, UK

Which PicoPSU for 5 x 3.5inch HDD and controller?

Post by wojtek » Tue Feb 04, 2014 4:57 am

Hi,
This is my first post after a few years - I'm building new rig for myself (finally!), run into some difficulties so ... pooling SPCR knowledge for help :)
Originally, I intended to re-use my old, trusty P180 but got something else - will require a lot of work to silence it but let me do what I describe below.

I intend to move my original DAS (built 7-8 years ago as 'temporary' solution) from the current housing to the inside of PC case - got big enough to fit PC, DAS and few more things ;)
I want to use PicoPSU to power DAS - basically, SII controller/MP, up to 5 x 3.5inch drives (no more than 3 platters each) and power controller for drives. Now, controller supports staggered spin-up + power controller means than it will be extremely rare when all 5 drives will be started together or even operate at the same time.
My question is: which PicoPSU will be best for this? I recon that I don't need more than 80W but there is some different models and makers with different 5V+ and 12V+ lines and I'm looking for advice which best to choose and which power brick.
All suggestions/hands-on experience will be greatly appreciated.

BTW, I hope that it's the right 'corner' for this question as wasn't sure - here or PSU's area

Vicotnik
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Re: Which PicoPSU for 5 x 3.5inch HDD and controller?

Post by Vicotnik » Tue Feb 04, 2014 8:06 am

With so many drives I would go for one of the beefier models, probably the 160-XT.

I'm curious about that power controller. Thought about staggered spinup for my own setup, but decided to drop it, seemed to complicated.

wojtek
Posts: 107
Joined: Sun Sep 23, 2007 3:11 am
Location: London, UK

Re: Which PicoPSU for 5 x 3.5inch HDD and controller?

Post by wojtek » Tue Feb 04, 2014 8:45 am

Vicotnik wrote:With so many drives I would go for one of the beefier models, probably the 160-XT.
Even with staggered spinup? I thought that this will save me a need of juice during start... OK, will look for 160W.
Vicotnik wrote:I'm curious about that power controller.
It's a simple device plugged between PSU and drive itself with the switch. Actually I intended to made one myself but found pointless when one can be bought off the shelf for few ££. I bought cheap for 4 drives off one known auction website but there is also Lian Li model for 6 drives which costs 4 times more or Orico for twice the cost of mine but 'plasticy'.
Vicotnik wrote:Thought about staggered spinup for my own setup, but decided to drop it, seemed to complicated.
What is complicated? Correct me if I'm wrong but it's a function of the controller (which in my case is SiliconImage 1-5 port multiplier SiI3726) - no user action required. I know that it works because can hear how one drive starts after another - it takes about 10 seconds between 1st and last. Different story if you use RAID - then you have to match controller, drives and BIOS I think. Anyway, with separate power switch it shouldn't be much problem. I most concerned about situation when all 5 drives will be up and busy.

Vicotnik
*Lifetime Patron*
Posts: 1831
Joined: Thu Feb 13, 2003 6:53 am
Location: Sweden

Re: Which PicoPSU for 5 x 3.5inch HDD and controller?

Post by Vicotnik » Wed Feb 05, 2014 12:11 am

wojtek wrote:Even with staggered spinup? I thought that this will save me a need of juice during start... OK, will look for 160W.
I wouldn't really recommend a picoPSU at all, for a system with that many HDDs. But with staggered spinup things should be ok. The bigger versions of the picos can handle more on the +5V rail, might be a good thing the few times many drives are active simultaneously.
wojtek wrote:What is complicated? Correct me if I'm wrong but it's a function of the controller (which in my case is SiliconImage 1-5 port multiplier SiI3726) - no user action required. I know that it works because can hear how one drive starts after another - it takes about 10 seconds between 1st and last. Different story if you use RAID - then you have to match controller, drives and BIOS I think. Anyway, with separate power switch it shouldn't be much problem. I most concerned about situation when all 5 drives will be up and busy.
Yeah, if the controller has support for it it's not complicated. I was looking into building my own solution but it turned out to complicated for me. Anyway, four drives spinning up at the same time seems to work so far. I'm half planning a new build with a Seasonic G-360 and maybe six HDDs, but the current system works fine and since I do backup like a good boy I'm not worried about data loss. :)

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