Thermaltake BlacX Docking Station (ST0005U) - All 3.5" Drives Make Clicking Noise

[mw-gtp]

I have a USB docking station with USB 2.0 that is not working with the larger 3.5" drives (I have tested multiple drives of this size). I've also tested it with an SSD and it seems to work fine.

I was thinking the issue could be power supply, but the adapter I have meets the requirements of 12VDC @ 2 amps. The adapter is a 3rd party replacement, but I didn't think it would be a big deal as long as it was running at the required output.

Probably will find some other 12VDC 2amp adapter to test with, but in the meantime does anyone have any other ideas as to what is going on here?

Thank you!

 

[Fishrrman]

If the power supply you have works with SSDs (which require less power), but does NOT work with HDDs (which require MORE power), than my guess is that the power supply is coming up a little short for your platter-based drives.

Solution would seem to be:
Get a power supply with a greater output (2.5-3.0 amps?).

Another thought:
Perhaps the dock itself is somehow not passing enough power into the drives?
(not sure how the dock's controller would "limit" the pass-through of power from the power block to the drive...)

If neither of the above work, I'd be looking at a replacement dock.

 

[mw-gtp]

Solution would seem to be:
Get a power supply with a greater output (2.5-3.0 amps?).

I had a similar thought. I'm no electrical engineer, so I wasn't sure what sort of consequences pushing more amperage through the device would have. Do you think will affect the drive at all? I have some burner drives to test so I'm not toooooo worried about it.

Thanks for your help, Fishrrman.