What is the maximum power consumption of a Seagate Barracuda ES.2 SATA 3Gb/s 1TB Hard Drive?

Question

Model #ST31000340NS

You can find the technical specifications here, by selecting "1 TB" and "SATA 3.0Gb/s" in the drop-down lists. (I am asking this question because I don't really understand what many of these specs mean, or how they may apply.)

I need to know the maximum wattage any one of these drives can require at any time. I am using this factor as I shop for a power supply that can handle five of these drives in RAID 5.

Solution 1

According to the ES.2 Data Sheet (PDF link in the middle of the page), the typical power draw is 11.6 W for SATA and 12.5 W for Serial-Attached SCSI.

Give it a +30% safety buffer, and you would be looking at about 15W per drive, which means that for five of these drives, it will be 75W.

Solution 2

According to the Product Manual, spin-up power is 3 A (peak) from the 12 V rail or 36W for 1 drive and 180 W for 5 drives.

This is the max power number you want to use if all these will power up at the same time (which they are). If you use 15 W per drive and have no headroom in the PSU, you may run into problems powering it up.

This also more closely matches the Newegg which adds 39W per 7200-rpm 3.5" HDD.

Comments

[caliban]

No worries. You can also use the Newegg Power Calculator to find out exactly what PSU rating you should get. educations.newegg.com/tool/psucalc/index.html