OK to daisy chain SATA power?

Fastfishy2 · Jul 19, 2023

I know most power supplies include sata power cables that have daisy chained connectors but is it actually wise to have two 2.5" SSDs running on the same cable? I figure it is but I wanted to check.

tabascosauz · Jul 19, 2023

Fastfishy2 said:
I know most power supplies include sata power cables that have daisy chained connectors but is it actually wise to have two 2.5" SSDs running on the same cable? I figure it is but I wanted to check.

SSD power consumption is low, they're not GPUs. I've been daisy chaining 2 or 3 SATA SSDs since forever on many PSUs and never had an issue. Even if you populate all the connectors it shouldn't even be remotely an issue as long as you have an even half-decent PSU.

wolf · Jul 19, 2023

You will have no issues with two SSD's - imo. They draw so little in typical use and many PSU cables have 3-4 SATA power plugs which can be taken as an indication of how many they believe you can comfortably power.

evernessince · Jul 19, 2023

Most SATA SSDs draw 3-4w full load and <1w idle. No PSU is going to have a daisy chained SATA cable that isn't capable of handling that level of load. Even if you had all large enterprise SSDs taking 13w each, it still would not be a concern.

ir_cow · Jul 19, 2023

I usually daisy chain 3-4 platter drives which consume more power. Using 30 watts isn't a problem for modern PSU.

Bill_Bright · Jul 19, 2023

Fastfishy2 said:
I know most power supplies include sata power cables that have daisy chained connectors

That's not daisy chaining. Those are just "parallel" power connections. Each connected device is powered independently of the other. Disconnect one drive, the other still works.

Daisy chaining is a method of connecting devices in "series". That is, for example, you connect Device 1 to the computer, then you connect Device 2 into Device 1, then plug Device 3 into Device 2, Device 4 into Device 3 and so on. Disconnect Device 1 from the computer, all the other devices lose their connections too.

In computers, the most common use of daisy chaining is with USB devices. Many keyboards for example, use daisy chaining to provide USB ports on the keyboard. The keyboard plugs into the computer, your USB devices plug into the keyboard. That's daisy chaining.

And because daisy chaining devices are in series, if the connection from the keyboard to the computer breaks, the USB devices connected to the keyboard lose their connection too.

Another good example of daisy chaining is cheap strings of LED Christmas lights where you plug a second string into the end of the first, third into second, etc.

chrcoluk · Jul 19, 2023

Fastfishy2 said:
I know most power supplies include sata power cables that have daisy chained connectors but is it actually wise to have two 2.5" SSDs running on the same cable? I figure it is but I wanted to check.

I have never seen a PSU that doesnt daisy chain SATA out of the box, it is fine, I have splitters I have used as well as molex to SATA convertors.

Bill_Bright · Jul 19, 2023

chrcoluk said:
I have never seen a PSU that doesnt daisy chain SATA out of the box,

You must have missed my last post. Again, that is not daisy chaining. You are not making a "serial" connection plugging one cable into the end of the other.

PSU cables support "parallel" connections to drives.

Nevertheless, your point is valid in that every PSU I have seen supports multiple drives on a single cable - they are just wired in parallel, not series.

Ruru · Jul 19, 2023

Back in the day I had 4x 7200rpm HDDs in one chain without problems.

Bill_Bright · Jul 19, 2023

As long as the rail and first connector can handle the current, not a problem.

dirtyferret · Jul 19, 2023

Bill_Bright said:
That's not daisy chaining. Those are just "parallel" power connections.

Bill_Bright said:
Daisy chaining is a method of connecting devices in "series"

this, the OP is using the SATA power cable properly

csendesmark · Jul 19, 2023

Fastfishy2 said:
I know most power supplies include sata power cables that have daisy chained connectors but is it actually wise to have two 2.5" SSDs running on the same cable? I figure it is but I wanted to check.

Don't worry, 2 SSD-s should be well within safe usage

chrcoluk · Jul 19, 2023

Bill_Bright said:
You must have missed my last post. Again, that is not daisy chaining. You are not making a "serial" connection plugging one cable into the end of the other.

PSU cables support "parallel" connections to drives.

Nevertheless, your point is valid in that every PSU I have seen supports multiple drives on a single cable - they are just wired in parallel, not series.

I did miss it and dont dispute your point either, innocent mistake.

Whitestar · Apr 12, 2024

Very late reply here. Just wondering, if the term "daisy chaining" is incorrect for this, then what should we call it?
Parallel chaining? Maybe "parachaining" for short? Or parallel wiring (parawiring)?

Bill_Bright · Apr 12, 2024

Already answered in post #6.

Waldorf · Apr 12, 2024

while its ok to do,
when my ODD was on the same cable as 2 ssds,
the disks "unsafe shutdown" count was going up (crystal disk info; (back when still using sata, and wanted minimal wiring).
going with 2 cables fixed it, unless it was cosmic interference messing with me

Bill_Bright · Apr 12, 2024

Please note the OP was talking about the "power" connections. You cannot "daily chain" (put in series) devices (loads) on a "power" cable. You can daisy chain "data" cables, however AS LONG AS the communication protocols (in this case, SATA protocols) support it.

Waldorf · Apr 12, 2024

i know its about power
i know its not daisy chained (never said such thing).

but i saw trouble when using a single cable for all 3 sata devices (1 ODD, 2 SSD).
and it wasnt the cable itself (new psu btw) and/or psu port, or problem would have stayed, as i only added on more power cable for the 2 ssds.

and i havent seen consumer disks having additional sata out (data), to even be able to do daisy for it.

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OK to daisy chain SATA power?

Fastfishy2

tabascosauz

Moderator

wolf

Better Than Native

evernessince

ir_cow

Bill_Bright

chrcoluk

Bill_Bright

Ruru

S.T.A.R.S.

Bill_Bright

dirtyferret

csendesmark

chrcoluk

Whitestar

Bill_Bright

Waldorf

Bill_Bright

Waldorf

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