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Can a Usb to Sata adapter similar to this USB 3.0 to SATA be used to power a smartphone from the second Usb cable when a HDD is connected to the phone?

user5425461
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  • Why not just use a readily available AC Adapter plug (wall wart) or a second USB port on your computer. Most every computer has at least two USB ports if not 3 – John Apr 29 '20 at 18:35
  • @John The point is the OP wants to charge their phone and access the hard drive from it at the same time, with no computer in the picture. – Joseph Sible-Reinstate Monica Apr 29 '20 at 21:15
  • I understand but 95 days of 100 I charge overnight and that is good for the next day until evening – John Apr 29 '20 at 21:55
  • Does this answer your question? [Can I use a USB hub to simultaneously charge a tablet and connect a USB drive?](https://superuser.com/questions/1136336/can-i-use-a-usb-hub-to-simultaneously-charge-a-tablet-and-connect-a-usb-drive) – Ale..chenski Apr 30 '20 at 05:08
  • What you need is called "accessory charger adapter". It has nothing to do with USB protocol, master-slave or else. see https://superuser.com/a/1136353/620011 – Ale..chenski Apr 30 '20 at 05:09

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No. The hard drive needs to receive power from both of the USB cables.

Joseph Sible-Reinstate Monica
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  • Yes, i guess if it receives power from both USB cables cant use to charge the phone at the same time. Probably i will need to use something like this : [link](https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000152358851.html?spm=a2g0o.productlist.0.0.47652aa92V3yrM&algo_pvid=634c4027-7ec1-4ce3-9b52-f390ca1a6951&algo_expid=634c4027-7ec1-4ce3-9b52-f390ca1a6951-49&btsid=0ab6f83115881862984565692e086a&ws_ab_test=searchweb0_0,searchweb201602_,searchweb201603_) – user5425461 Apr 29 '20 at 18:55
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    That will work if you have the smaller USB port on your computer. Also very much watch and be aware of total power requirements of all your devices on the one port. – John Apr 29 '20 at 19:06
  • Actually i want to connect the hdd to a phone, no computer. – user5425461 Apr 29 '20 at 19:27
  • @user5425461 Not easily. USB is a master-slave protocol. Master connector is what you can see in your laptop. There is only a single master on an USB bus. You can not connect directly a master and a slave. Also the phones have slave connectors. – peterh Apr 29 '20 at 21:13
  • @peterh-ReinstateMonica USB-OTG lets a phone be a master. – Joseph Sible-Reinstate Monica Apr 29 '20 at 21:14
  • @JosephSible-ReinstateMonica Wow!!! !!! – peterh Apr 29 '20 at 21:19
  • @JosephSible-ReinstateMonica What if the phone is bound to the USB-OTG cable, which is bound to an USB hub with external power, and that is bound to the HDD? – peterh Apr 29 '20 at 21:40
  • @peterh-ReinstateMonica USB hubs generally don't provide power to their upstream port, only to their downstream ones. – Joseph Sible-Reinstate Monica Apr 29 '20 at 21:41
  • @JosephSible-ReinstateMonica I am thinking on this chain: `phone->usb_otg->usb_hub->usb_sata_adapter->sata_hdd`. So the usb hub would be *between* the otg and the hdd. – peterh Apr 29 '20 at 21:44
  • @peterh-ReinstateMonica That would work for the phone to use the HDD, but the phone wouldn't receive power. I think the OP wants the phone to be able to receive power. – Joseph Sible-Reinstate Monica Apr 29 '20 at 21:45
  • @JosephSible-ReinstateMonica Yes. It seems, yet another usb hub is needed, between the phone and the `usb_otg`. – peterh Apr 29 '20 at 21:47
  • @peterh-ReinstateMonica I don't think that would work either, barring something like USB-PD. – Joseph Sible-Reinstate Monica Apr 29 '20 at 21:47
  • @JosephSible-ReinstateMonica Imagine this chain: `phone<-usb_hub_1<-usb_otg->usb_hub_2->usb_sata_adapter->sata_hdd`. Here the arrow shows also the master->slave direction. `usb_hub_1`'s uplink would be the otg device, and the phone would be on his down(s). – peterh Apr 29 '20 at 21:52
  • USB hubs don't support OTG in that direction. – Joseph Sible-Reinstate Monica Apr 29 '20 at 21:53
  • @JosephSible-ReinstateMonica Ok. USB has 4 pins, 2 for data and 2 for power. I could solder easily a cable which draws power from another source, but connects the data pins to the OTG. Probably there is such cable cheaply on the market, too. – peterh Apr 29 '20 at 21:57
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The second cable is a power only cable meant for when a single port dosen't give enough power.

If you somehow managed to plug in a type A male cable to charge a phone (I guess you could with an OTG adaptor)... you still may not be charging it, and the drive might not have enough power to run correctly.

So... just don't be too clever .

Journeyman Geek
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Not easily. USB is a master-slave protocol.

Master connector is what you can see in your laptop. There is only a single master on an USB bus. You can connect directly a master and many slaves. There is no way to connect masters to masters, or slaves to slaves.

Also the phones have slave connectors.

There are devices which can bridge the gap, for example they can act as a master for both the slaves. They require software support, thus they can require rooted android and rebuilt kernel (and completely impossible with any i* thing).

peterh
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