New Hard Drive, PROBLEMS

[Brian Robison]

I've got my old work computer and it has a SATA drive.
It needs a new one so I ordered one from Tiger Direct.
The old HHD has a 4 pin power connector just like the CD/ DVD drives and floppys have. The new one doesn't.
I installed the new one any how, and set my BIOS to recognize the new drive but "it don't".
Any one seen this problem?

[Phil Thien]

I've got my old work computer and it has a SATA drive.
It needs a new one so I ordered one from Tiger Direct.
The old HHD has a 4 pin power connector just like the CD/ DVD drives and floppys have. The new one doesn't.
I installed the new one any how, and set my BIOS to recognize the new drive but "it don't".
Any one seen this problem?

Did you connect ANY power cable to the new drive?

If your power supply doesn't have a SATA power connection, you can get an adapter at a computer shop.

[Anthony Scira]

You prolly need one of these !

http://www.google.com/products/catalog?q=sata+power+adapter&um=1&ie=UTF-8&cid=1797434064797218986&ei=GVu1S7eQDpzsNZ3C5PgJ&sa=X&oi=product_catalog_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CB4Q8wIwAA#ps-sellers

[Brian Robison]

I have the SATA cable connected but thereis no 4 pin connection on the new drive.

[Brian Robison]

I have the SATA cable connected but there is no 4 pin connection on the new drive.

[Howard Garner]

Anthony has the solution.
Your drive should have two connectors.
One for data and one for power.
The power is NOT the old 4 pin connector.

Howard Garner
retired computer tech

[Curt Harms]

The power connection on SATA drives isn't 4 pins. The data cable is 4 pins. Here is a pic from Western Digital's site showing the different power connectors
147028
One advantage of this setup is that notebook drives and desktop drive connections are the same AFAIK. Makes it easier to use external enclosures etc.

[Brian Robison]

I thought I would upload a couple pictures. The new HDD is on the bottom.

[Brian Robison]

I'm trying to figure out why the top drive has both the SATA and the Molex connectors.

[Dav1d Beck]

I thought I would upload a couple pictures. The new HDD is on the bottom.
http://www.amazon.com/8-Inch-4-pin-Molex-Connector-Adapter/dp/B000YJMB5Y

you need something like the link above...


http://www.satacable.com/images2/P72550984.jpg

[Lee DeRaud]

The Wikipedia article on SATA is quite informative: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serial_ATA.

If you scroll down to the section marked "Power Supply", it includes pictures of the new power connector, along with this intriguing sentence:

Native SATA devices favor the SATA power-connector, although some early SATA drives retained older 4-pin Molex in addition to the SATA power connector.
which appears to explain your older (upper) drive. If you use something like this: http://www.endpcnoise.com/cgi-bin/e/std/sku=SATA_power
you'll be able to power both your drives from the single Molex power cable currently going to your old one.

[Brian Robison]

OK, I've ordered a cable and we'll see if I can get this HDD installed in a week or so. I'll let you all know. Thanks for the help. I swear SMCer's can be counted on for darn near anything!

[JAIME PUJOL]

I had a simular problem and had to let the geek squad take care of it after four trys and two weeks They replace my new hard drive with a new hard telling me that my mother board could not send the information to keep up with the newer hard drives and had to but a older verse hard drive. I try try for two weeks before they got a hold of my computer.

But we are up and running window 7 32bit and Corel x5. Now to try to catch up.

[George Brown]

telling me that my mother board could not send the information to keep up with the newer hard drives


That is BS, no such a thing. Data to and from the drive is buffered. No such problem as sending it too slowly!!

[Joseph Tovar]

I'm trying to figure out why the top drive has both the SATA and the Molex connectors.

Looks like that drive came out during the PATAP/SATA transition. While the HD vendors were coming out with the new sata drives, they left the molex connector on for backward power compatablity. That's a normal look for older sata drives.

Like others mentioned, the reason the bottom drive is not being recognized is simply because there is no power being applied. Once you receive your adapter, you should be up and running.

[Dan Hintz]

They replace my new hard drive with a new hard telling me that my mother board could not send the information to keep up with the newer hard drives and had to but a older verse hard drive.
Sounds like you were swindled. They probably put a cheap old hard drive in and kept your new one.




Brian, the small IDE connector is for mode-select jumpers...

[Dav1d Beck]

Sounds like you were swindled. They probably put a cheap old hard drive in and kept your new one.




Brian, the small IDE connector is for mode-select jumpers...
almost all SATA drives do not use the slector jumpers anymore but all IDE can be put in Master, Slave or Cable Select...

[Brian Robison]

Well the part came in, everything went super smooth.
OS installed with no problems. Now to load programs, files and drivers.
Thanks all!!!

[Jamie Collins]

good luck. Service packs, driver updates, and Serial Numbers oh my!:eek:

[Brian Robison]

Yeah, got the new Epilog drivers loaded and updated the firmware while I was at it. Loaded Corel and now it's time to get the default the way I want it. Loaded fonts, MAN I've got 8000 fonts, who knew.