How to get another power connector for my 2nd hard drive?

  • Thread starter Thread starter John Wilson
  • Start date Start date
J

John Wilson

I tried sending gif attachments of the connectors, but the message would not
go through. So I have to try to describe what I need.

I do not have enough power connectors left to connect to my second hard
drive I am installing. I do have one connector that looks 2 rows with 6 big
holes on top and 6 small holes on bottom.

But I need another connector that has just 4 holes. Is there some adapter I
can get to attach to the big one that has 12 holes in it so I can then
connect one with 4 holes to the hard drive?

Basically, what I need is another connector from my powersupply to give
power to another hard drive. I have an ATA100 pci card coming so I will have
the second hard drive on its one channel, but some power would be nice too.

Also, could you tell me the proper terms for these things so I don't sound
so stupid?

Thanks!
 
Is there some place online for free where I can upload pics of these
connectors to show you guys what I am talking about?

Thanks!
 
You will go ask for a Y-connector. It plugs into a connector that would
go to the drive and splits it into two of the same so that you may
connect 2 drives into 1 powersupply pigtail.
 
I hooked the Y-Connector up the only way I possibly could to get power to
the second hard drive. The thing started making a loud humming noise on
boot up, so I had to disconnect and put it back the way it was.

Any ideas?
 
You can't plug one of them in wrong without really working at it. If the
PS can't supply enough watts to start everything up, you could have a
problem. If the "new" drive is defective and that is what the humming
was, you know where the problem is.
 
No, it is not the hard drive, and I was thinking it was the powersupply.
What is the power switch on the back of my computer that can be set for
110volts or 220 volts do? Right now it is set at 110 volts. It is actually
on the outside of the computer on the backside.

Thank you!
 
can you try plugging in the 2nd hard drive only and see if the hum is still
there. it wont boot or anything but just to check the hum you mentioned.
 
I tried sending gif attachments of the connectors, but the message would not
go through. So I have to try to describe what I need.

I do not have enough power connectors left to connect to my second hard
drive I am installing. I do have one connector that looks 2 rows with 6 big
holes on top and 6 small holes on bottom.

But I need another connector that has just 4 holes. Is there some adapter I
can get to attach to the big one that has 12 holes in it so I can then
connect one with 4 holes to the hard drive?

Basically, what I need is another connector from my powersupply to give
power to another hard drive. I have an ATA100 pci card coming so I will have
the second hard drive on its one channel, but some power would be nice too.

Also, could you tell me the proper terms for these things so I don't sound
so stupid?

Thanks!
Click to expand...

And this has what to do with WinXP?

Ask in a hardware group.
 
You don't want to touch that switch, period...It is obviously set properly at
110v for your household current, ie from the wall plug.. The Y connector is
not really the right solution because the HD needs a pure 12v trunk feed,
w/one molex connector for IDE drives or one SATA 4pin connector per SATA
drive.. 12v divided by 2 drives equals 6v each or so, use the Y connector or
a double molex trunk feed on lower voltage hardware, like fans or lights..
A new PSU might have more to offer, read the specs...
http://www.antec.com/us/pro_powerSupply.html
See the link below to calculate your PSU wattages for your system..
http://www.jscustompcs.com/power_supply/Power_Supply_Calculator.php?cmd=INTEL
j;-j
 
NobodyMan wrote.........

.......And this has what to do with WinXP?

.......Ask in a hardware group.



I'm pretty sure this is the hardware group, at least it's titled
microsoft.public.windowsxp.hardware
 
And what did your reply have to do with XP? Get out of here TopPoster and
quit wasting my time and screwing up my thread. The amount of replies I got
suggests you were wrong anyway.
 
I hooked the Y connector up to just one drive and with nothing else on it,
but I still got the humming noise. I hooked it up to the two cd drives and I
still go the noise. I had already tried connecting the Y connector to the
fan and a cd rom, but that did not work either.

I noticed in the MOBO manual that every component to be hooked up had how
much voltage was needed to run it. I suspected the voltage had alot more to
do with that humming noise, but the noise occurs with only one drive
connected to the Y connector, so I don't know now.

Thank you all who replied!
 
Jaymon said:
You don't want to touch that switch, period...It is obviously set properly at
110v for your household current, ie from the wall plug.. The Y connector is
not really the right solution because the HD needs a pure 12v trunk feed,
w/one molex connector for IDE drives or one SATA 4pin connector per SATA
drive.. 12v divided by 2 drives equals 6v each or so, use the Y connector or
a double molex trunk feed on lower voltage hardware, like fans or lights..
A new PSU might have more to offer, read the specs...
http://www.antec.com/us/pro_powerSupply.html
See the link below to calculate your PSU wattages for your system..
http://www.jscustompcs.com/power_supply/Power_Supply_Calculator.php?cmd=INTEL
j;-j
Click to expand...

NO!

The Y connector supplies parralel connections, so BOTH drives get the
full 12 Volts (for motors)AND 5 volts (for electronics) on the
coresponding pins. Voltage is only divided when devices are wired in
series. Trouble WOULD occur if the seperate maximum supply wattage is
exceded on eithier voltage, probably at least a brief PSU shutdown. The
total wattage load would include the CPU and all peripheral cards in
addition to the drives and fans. Each PSU I have has the maximum
wattages listed on a label. Retail replacement PSU packageing normally
shows the total of the wattages for all the voltages, not all of which
are present on drive power cables.

Check with your computer manufacturer or motherboard manual to make SURE
your motherboard has the standard pinout on the power connector before
replaceing a power supply.

It's entirely possible a factory produced computer would include a PSU
that only has the wattage capacity for the peripherals that were
originaly installed in the computer. If loading was creating a problem
you would probably be able to get the computer to start (possibly
without an OS) with the new drive in place of the old one. Check the
drive manufacturer's web site with another computer for drive testing
software you can run from a floppy or CD-R.

The 110/220 switch is for selecting the AC supply voltage and should be
set for the AC voltage on the cord carrying electricity from the surge
suppressor or Uninteruptable Power Suppy.
 
That sounds like you have either a BAD connector or the wires are NOT
connecting properly. Basically you have 4 wires coming in and 4 pair
coming out. If they aren't connected properly you aren't making a proper
circuit.
 
Ok, here is what I am going to do because I just noticed on the PSU that my
current PSU is only 300watts. The receipt that came with the tower says it
is only 250 watts though. Either way, 300 watts is not really enough for all
that I have inside my comp.

I have ordered a 450watt power supply with 5 female molex connectors, so
that should take care of my problem.

Thank you all who replied to me. I never would have figured this out
otherwise.
 
NobodyMan wrote.........

......And this has what to do with WinXP?

......Ask in a hardware group.



I'm pretty sure this is the hardware group, at least it's titled
microsoft.public.windowsxp.hardware
Click to expand...

What connectors you use to split your power connections inside the
case have absolutely nothing to do with WinXP, which is what this
group is for - XP and hardware.

Bye bye now.
 
Just to update those of you who responsibly replied to me, I wanted to let
you know that I have put in a 450watt PSU with 5 molex connectors. The
humming noise went away completely.

I suspect the Y connector would still work now that I have enough juice
coming out of the PSU, but the Y connector is irrelevant now.

On another note, the receipt to the computer I bought 3 years ago said the
PSU was a 300 watts PSU, but when I took it out of the computer I realized
it was only a 250watt PSU.

I learned a valuable lesson there.
 
Good to hear you've resolved the issue.

John said:
Just to update those of you who responsibly replied to me, I wanted to let
you know that I have put in a 450watt PSU with 5 molex connectors. The
humming noise went away completely.

I suspect the Y connector would still work now that I have enough juice
coming out of the PSU, but the Y connector is irrelevant now.

On another note, the receipt to the computer I bought 3 years ago said the
PSU was a 300 watts PSU, but when I took it out of the computer I realized
it was only a 250watt PSU.

I learned a valuable lesson there.
Click to expand...
 
Back
Top