3.5 inch vs 2.5 inch HDD power requirments

[Veraster]

I have two RGH'd Xbox 360s (this probably isn't relevant). On one, I installed a 500gb 2.5 inch SATA HDD and it just worked the same way you'd expect it to work on a normal pc. I simply took the old one out, put the new one in and formatted. I didn't even have to solder anything.

Now I need to put a new hard drive in my other RGH'd Xbox. I don't have any more 2.5 inch SATA hard drives but I have a few 3.5 inch ones. The connectors are the same so it should work but I'm asking on here just to make sure.

Are there any special power requirements that are different between 2.5 inch and 3.5 inch drives? Is it the same voltage?

 

[PP Mguire]

The voltage is the same but the draw is different. 2.5" drives can run purely off the USB power while a 3.5" drive requires extra power. This is probably the same case with the Xbox since it is technically run on a USB port (fat).

 

[Veraster]

I tried it and it didn't work. The sata+power connection is all one single, impossible to dissemble connector. I could solder the wires strait from the motherboard to the hard drive and use the 12 volts from the dvd drive but that would take me a day or more. I think I'll just buy a cheap 2.5 inch HDD.