discussion Molex cables ?

[bostonkikiki]

Hi ! I just bought and UBS to SATA/IDE adapter. I've got 2 SATA to molex adapters for power supply, but one i have 3 wires, and the other one, 4 cables ! (the added one is yellow...)
Can someone tell me the difference between the 2 cables ? And how do i know my drive needs a 3 pins or a 4 pins adapter ?
Thank you !

 

[Soultribunal]

Hi ! I just bought and UBS to SATA/IDE adapter. I've got 2 SATA to molex adapters for power supply, but one i have 3 wires, and the other one, 4 cables ! (the added one is yellow...)
Can someone tell me the difference between the 2 cables ? And how do i know my drive needs a 3 pins or a 4 pins adapter ?
Thank you !

Hi there,

The yellow cable is the 12V line, which you will need for your HDD.
So use the one with 4 total,

-ST

 

[botat29]

Yellow -> 12v
Red - > 5 v
Black - > Ground

If the red is not there it's probably an adapter for fans, if I'm not mistake HD need both 5 and 12 volts.

 

[bostonkikiki]

Ok... so obvisously you guys are saying i should use the adapter with the yellow cable, and i will ! But how can the other one be for a fan ? It's a SATA to Molex adapter ! Do you think they might have... forgot to put a wire ??

 

[ZZLEE]

Picture of it ?? size it down to fit forum rules.

 

[bostonkikiki]

i cant post any picture. It's just a standard SATA to Molex adapter, without any yellow cable...

 

[AkG]

Does it have all FOUR cables attached to the molex plug....or just two. If its two its a fan adapater. If it attached to all four pins of hte Molex connector and USES all four (ie with four cables going to the Sata plug) it should be a hdd adapter.

 

[3.0charlie]

Is this it?

 

[ZZLEE]

LOL ... " Somewhere, an electric company is salivating..."

 

[bostonkikiki]

Ok ! So yes for the 4 pin, all 4 cables a plugged into both SATA side and Molex side. The 3 wires adapter, all 3 wires are plugged (and the molex only has 3 metal pins).
The picture "Pscout" posted is pretty accurate, except the SATA connetor seems to be a male on the picture, whereas mine is female...
And i really don't understand that "fan" thing. Ho can it be related to a fan since it's SATA ? i thought SATA was only for storage devices, not fans...