USB 3.0 to SATA adapter: power SSD with single cable?

First to note, it would be more correct to say, "USB 3.0 to SATA adapter", kind of paying respect to who is the boss (USB host), and not the opposite way. Obviously the adapter is not symmetrical, and a SATA drive can't host USB devices.

Now, some older HDD SATA enclosures did use dual-fork USB cables. This was done when only 2.5" mechanical drives were available for portable storage. The mechanical drives have a bad habit (feature) to consume a lot of current during spin-up, so the single-port voltage can drop below the level of control electronics likes, and initialization of a HDD will frequently fail, and the enclosure would fall into infinite cycle mode, start-fail-start-fail etc. To provide more peak current, manufacturers offered a hack in the form of Y-fork cables, to take power from two USB ports.

With advent and proliferation of SSD there is no problem with spinning up, and SSDs consume less power in general. Therefore a single USB 3.0 cable with the standard port power capability of 900 mA appears to be good enough in most SSD-enclosure cases.

To the question "will this work", why don't you try it, and run some taxing benchmarks on the storage? If it fails, then post another question, and we might help to understand what went wrong.

Ale..chenski

Posted 2018-03-13T22:02:27.900

Reputation: 9 749

1Big thanks for answer! I cannot test it cause I was hesitating to purchase such combo. Sure I'll post the result. Waiting for delivery. – NapoleonTheCake – 2018-03-13T23:46:47.583

@NapoleonTheCake, if you would post a link to which particular "adapter" you are purchasing, the answer could be more focused. – Ale..chenski – 2018-03-14T00:14:09.240

Buy a powered USB Hub :) – DavidPostill – 2018-03-13T22:08:17.110

Maybe, but better not to. Any ideas whether this will work? – NapoleonTheCake – 2018-03-13T22:09:58.723

If the device has 2 USB cables, it doesn't really matter what the device is that is connected to it. If you only use 1 usb cable, it will default back to USB 2.0 mode, even with SSD. That is what my experience told me with different of these. There are also USB 3.0 versions that use just one cable for SSD's, you really do need one of those, and they will not work with regular harddisks at all. – LPChip – 2018-03-13T22:13:31.610

1With the double usb cables, it tends to be for older mechanical drives - Always check that you are using the USB that has the 'spur' USB coming off it - The other USB only supplies power and you won't see your device, even though it powers up. Got caught out loads :) – JohnnyVegas – 2018-03-13T23:01:31.697

USB 3.0 to SATA adapter: power SSD with single cable?

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