# TiVo Edge internal SATA power connector rating.



## tivois4me (May 7, 2004)

Does anyone know the power rating of the internal SATA power connector inside of the TiVo Edge?

I measured the voltage output and I see it supports +5V and +12V; I didn't see +3.3V but that isn't needed for an external 3.5" HDD. My plan is to connect an external 3.5" HDD and use the internal SATA power connector as well as using the SATA data connector directly. I need to know the maximum current draw on these internal supplies.

It would be nice to not have to use an external power supply for the external HDD.


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## CWSpangler (Dec 25, 2018)

tivois4me said:


> Does anyone know the power rating of the internal SATA power connector inside of the TiVo Edge?
> 
> I measured the voltage output and I see it supports +5V and +12V; I didn't see +3.3V but that isn't needed for an external 3.5" HDD. My plan is to connect an external 3.5" HDD and use the internal SATA power connector as well as using the SATA data connector directly. I need to know the maximum current draw on these internal supplies.
> 
> It would be nice to not have to use an external power supply for the external HDD.


I don't have an Edge, but I believe it uses a 2.5" hard drive, much like a Bolt (which I do have). I thought that 2.5" hard drives only use 5V, in which case I am a little surprised that 12V is present at the connector, and I would expect the internal power connector to not be providing much amperage at 12V.

I have powered the 3.5" hard drive in a Premiere XL with an external power supply while I was investigating a power problem with the Premiere XL (low voltage on 12V). It worked very nicely for the duration, before I swapped in a good spare internal power supply. This is the one I used, from Newegg: BYTECC AC-BT300 AC to DC PSU Adapter and Power cord Set for IDE/SATA Drives

I would use an external power supply like that for an externally-mounted 3.5" disk, rather than try to use the internal power supply for it (in the unlikely event that it even provides enough amperage at 12V for a 3.5" hard drive). And that way you only need to extend the data cable out of the box, ideally with a connector at the back panel.


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## tivois4me (May 7, 2004)

Thanks, I'm in agreement about using an external SATA power supply, especially if I can't find any information about the internal SATA power capabilities. Better safe than sorry. I did connect my external drive to both SATA data and power and it the TiVo booted up, but I don't have any idea of how much stress it is putting on the internal power supply.


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