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I have a few questions to ask. I have referred to many other similar questions, but couldn't get a straight forward answer to my questions.

Current situation: I just recently bought a Canakit Raspberry Pi 2 Kit. I want to use it as a media server and a file server (I am using one hard disk for each purpose). I have set up everything except that my hard disks are not getting enough power.

  1. What is the maximum safe power (current and voltage) that I can provide my raspberry pi using a power adapter?
  2. What is the power output by the USB ports on RPi and how to increase it. (I'm unable to power my hard disks through it. I want to connect 2 Hard disks)
  3. What is the required power/current adapter for my requirements? (Simply said, what adapter should I use for this)
Ghanima
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Harish R
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  • You WILL need a powered USB hub unless the hard-drives have their own Power Supplies - although the later models including the 2 B have an option to increase the power available through the USB ports - I have a hard time believing it would be enough fornot just one but two HDDs! – SlySven Jan 03 '16 at 00:40

1 Answers1

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The short answer is to use a powered USB hub to connect the drives to the Pi.

TL;DR

The Pi needs a 5 volt power supply. The Pi will only draw as much current as it needs so something between 1 and 2.5 amps should be fine. The one that came with your kit should be fine.

To change the amount of power supplied by the USB ports:

edit the /boot/config.txt set the max_usb_current=1

This will set the available current over USB to 1.2A (default is 600mA). For additional details see this question.

Also please note that shopping recommendations are off-topic per the site FAQ.

Community
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Steve Robillard
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  • The max_usb_current=1 setting also seems to fail. Hard disk makes a sound indicating lack of current. So there is no way other than using a powered usb hub ? – Harish R Jan 02 '16 at 15:40
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    @HarishR There are only so many ways of saying you need a powered hub for your drives. – joan Jan 02 '16 at 16:07