Which power lead for the hard drive?

[Pigsy]

Help! I don't know how to connect my hard drive to my PCH! I assumed it would be simple - but actually I'm completely stuck! There was no lead with the PCH and none with the hard drive. I thought it would be a standard lead, so I went to Maplins and PC World and neither do a lead that fits. I can't see anyone else having problem so I don't know what I'm doing, am I missing something obvious. If not, can anyone post a web link to a lead that fits. I'm in the UK btw.

[vic20]

Check your box again. An adapter is supposed to be supplied. It connects the small 4-pin header on the board near the IDE connector to a standard Molex connector found on IDE drives. The adapter likely consists of two white plugs with red, yellow and black wires between them.

[chris57]

If you cannot find it then a floppy PSU cable with molex works.

[Pigsy]

Just my luck - I can't find it! Must have thrown it away accidentely {feels foolish!}. Thanks for the help thoubh, but my problem still remains that I can't find a Molex 4 Pin Female to Floppy 4 Pin Female - all I can find is a Molex 4 Pin Male to Floppy 4 Pin Female http://www.pcpartscollection.com/inpoad4momat.html - can anyone suggest what I can do?

[vic20]

While not ideal, this part should do it for you:

http://www.pcpartscollection.com/3drpoy.html

Unfortunately, they claim to be out of stock. However, even your local computer shop should have something like that lying around.

[Pigsy]

Thanks vic - I actually got hold of one of those but it didnt work, I think maybe because it splits from the male, to the two females. Whereas I want the two females to work. Can anyone confirm this is the case? Anyway, I went out and bought a soldering iron, so im going to rewire this very 3 way splitter to turn it into female to female - wish me luck!

[vic20]

Pigsy Wrote:Thanks vic - I actually got hold of one of those but it didnt work, I think maybe because it splits from the male, to the two females. Whereas I want the two females to work. Can anyone confirm this is the case? Anyway, I went out and bought a soldering iron, so im going to rewire this very 3 way splitter to turn it into female to female - wish me luck!

Good luck. I was wondering about that, actually, but at least now you have all the connectors you need

[Pigsy]

I did a great job on the soldering, BUT when I hook up the power to the HD and then power on the PCH it doesn't spin up. I'm assuming it should and that I don't need to set something up to get it to recognise the drive first before it spins up?

Of course it could be the connector, the soldering or the drive itself

[Pigsy]

Well the hard drive works, so it's either the cable or my soldering. I think I did pretty good job though, so just wonder whether it's the cable. I had to slice the plastic on the connector on the board to actually get it to fit in, a standard floppy power cable doesnt go in otherwise. Could it be the cable?