Using a 3.5" SATA HDD on a mini PC with external power — safe or not?

[super_computer_world]

I have a mini PC with an motherboard that has a SATA data port and a SATA power port, and according to the manual, this setup is intended for 2.5-inch SATA HDD/SSD only.

My question is very simple:

Is it safe and acceptable to connect a 3.5-inch SATA hard drive to the motherboard’s SATA data port, while using an external power supply for the hard drive?

In other words:

SATA data from the mini PC motherboard + External power (12V/5V) directly to the 3.5" HDD??

Is this combination OK to do?
Is it safe and stable for normal use, or not recommended?



------Reason Behind------

I have a 24TB 3.5" HDD, with external dock is rated only up to 16TB and caused problems with the 24TB drive
I’m in Canada and have limited options for external docks explicitly rated for ≥24TB per bay (Canada Ebay has no this option: external dock support 24BT per bay)
I want to avoid data loss or hardware damage, so I’m looking for althernative solution and advice from people with real-world experience.

 

[louie1961]

Sure its safe to do, so long as you are protected from someone accidentally or maliciously removing the cables from the drive.

 

[TrevorH]

Ugreen claim their external USB caddy supports 20TB drives and if there were going to be a capacity limit then it would be at 16TB or some other magic power of 2. It doesn't explicitly claim 24TB support but that may mean they just didn't test it.