i just bought a brand new hard disk toshiba 500gb but when I got home I noticed that the actual power cable that fits in the existing hard disk isnt the same for this hard disk. the other data cable directly fits into the motherboard but with the 4pins molex cable I cant connect it in the hard disk. so actually I have a hard disk without power and I really dont know what to do as I have ordered it on the net and if someone could help me that would be kind..
You are absolutely wrong about 4-wire SATA power cables: SMART info will *ALWAYS* be collected and reported. This is built into all newer HDD's capabilities and has *nothing* to do with how the drive's controller circuit board is powered (5V vs 3.3V).
All newer drives implement SMART technology reporting whether they are IDE/PATA or SATA types.
"(Only) A little bit of knowledge is a dangerous thing."
There are adapter cables for 4-pin Molex to 15-pin power needed for SATA drives, They should be $2 or less, but a computer store will try to gouge you.
A newer power supply will come with at least one SATA power connectos
The only problem with the power adapter cable is that the only power connected to the hard drive is +5 volts (red wire) and +12 volts (yellow wire). Without the +3.3 volt input (orange wire), no S.M.A.R.T. data will be reported to the motherboard. By the way - you'll be happier if you use a latching SATA data cable. I have power adapter cables I'll never use, but there's no way to get one to you. Don't get gouged!
may be you have bought a sata hdd for ide capable main board, or you have bought a ide hdd for a sata capable main board. never mind of this difference, just get a converter for this. its very cheap and can get it from any local computer hardware retailers.
the problem is simple the fools that made this crap have build in an comptability problem wich is: normal sata powercable uses 5 cables with the orange one
but they are not ready or want us to spend money on junk that dont work or something like that so :
if you attach a cable to the last empty pin from the connector to your powersupply's orange cable test it and it will work !!!
I just buy my 500w coolermaster power supply and it comes with red,yellow and orange wire to 4x Sara power connector that means I have 3.3volt for my smart data :)) cost me 40 bucks. Siao:))
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