Question Alternating Current / Direct Current for an HDD Caddy ?

Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
A

Artisanico

Jan 27, 2025
9
0
10
Newbie Q:
I have a very old (but with SATA connections) caddy and an even older PATA HDD which I intend to connect to the caddy via an adapter.
My HDD has printed on the back:
RATED: 5V 300mA 12V

I cannot afford to damage this HDD in any way. This is why I am keen to get this right: will my 12V AC power supply (which is for my laptop) be OK to plug in to this caddy for running the HDD? (I had some notion that caddies run on DC.)

TIA
 
ex_bubblehead said:
That drive takes 5V and 12V DC only. If you try to feed it 12V AC you may very well damage the electronics in the enclosure and on the drive. This is why you keep up to date backups for anything you "cannot afford to damage in any way".
Click to expand...
Strange that it doesn't specify DC. And strange that a caddy won't either convert to DC or block anything other than DC if that's what's needed. Thanks, anyway.
 
Presumably if I use my up-to-date caddy, which has both SATA and PATA fittings (yet for which I need an adaptor - which is just a circuit board with relevant pins and sockets coming out of it, i.e. no lumpy transformer - for the power connector), that would be OK to use with that HDD?
 
Artisanico said:
I have a very old (but with SATA connections) caddy and an even older, PATA HDD, which I intend to connect to the caddy via an adapter.
Click to expand...
What model HDD is that?
Is it 2.5" or 3.5" HDD?

Do you have a desktop pc available?

With a desktop pc you could install a PCIE IDE controller card into it.
And connect your 3.5" HDD to it as a normal internal drive.

pex2ide.c.jpg


https://www.startech.com/en-us/cards-adapters/pex2ide
 
Artisanico said:
Newbie Q:
I have a very old (but with SATA connections) caddy and an even older, PATA HDD, which I intend to connect to the caddy via an adapter.
My HDD has printed on the back:
RATED: 5V 300mA 12V

I cannot afford to damage this HDD in any way. This is why I am keen to get this right: will my 12V AC power supply (which is for my laptop) be OK to plug in to this caddy for running the HDD? (I had some notion that caddies run on DC.)

TIA
Click to expand...
Where is the power supply that came with the caddy originally?

Don't use some random thing that was for a whole different device.

If you can't locate the original, a new SATA dock can be had for around $20.
And for a drive that "I cannot afford to damage"....you only get once chance to get it wrong.
 
SkyNetRising said:
He said - power adapter is for his laptop.
Adapter is not necessary compatible with this particular external HDD caddy.
Click to expand...
If the adapter provides 12VDC, and the connector is mechanically correct with the proper polarity, it will work assuming it can output the required amperage (300mA, output information as stated previously will be on the adapter). Assuming the OP is not cutting and pasting connectors here adapters CAN be repurposed like this if they match the power requirements (Voltage, current, polarity).
 
I don't have the specs for my old caddy as it's stripped to the bare bones.
However my laptop is a Geobook 1 with 12V and 2Amp output. The AC or DC doesn't appear to be specified (although when I wrote my OP I reckon I must have seen somewhere it was AC? Unless I read the 'A' for Amp as 'A' for AC.). There is no power brick, if what is meant by a power brick is the lump that sits between the mains socket and the connection to the laptop's power input.
I do have a PC and it has an IDE cable (so presumably doesn't need the other IDE-related item mentioned?) but I am always hesitant to do it that way as I have lost HDDs through carelessness in the past.
I remain interested to know whether the new caddy that I have got will be suitable. Inside, it is rather unusual in that it has a 5-pin power connector of which, so I am told, four pins are active (I tried to get a 4-pin/5-pin adapter for it but couldn't find one anywhere). It's a GP1156 Newlink, for my 3.5" HDD, and the blurb says it has a 12/2A adapter. (But it doesn't have the right connection for use on my old caddy.)
 
Artisanico said:
I don't have the specs for my old caddy as it's stripped to the bare bones.
However my laptop is a Geobook 1 with 12V and 2Amp output. The AC or DC doesn't appear to be specified (although when I wrote my OP I reckon I must have seen somewhere it was AC? Unless I read the 'A' for Amp as 'A' for AC.). There is no power brick, if what is meant by a power brick is the lump that sits between the mains socket and the connection to the laptop's power input.
I do have a PC and it has an IDE cable (so presumably doesn't need the other IDE-related item mentioned?) but I am always hesitant to do it that way as I have lost HDDs through carelessness in the past.
I remain interested to know whether the new caddy that I have got will be suitable. Inside, it is rather unusual in that it has a 5-pin power connector of which, so I am told, four pins are active (I tried to get a 4-pin/5-pin adapter for it but couldn't find one anywhere). It's a GP1156 Newlink, for my 3.5" HDD, and the blurb says it has a 12/2A adapter. (But it doesn't have the right connection for use on my old caddy.)
Click to expand...
There are numerous inexpensive caddies or docks for IDE drives or SATA drives.
Some can do both.

For a drive that is the sole source for apparently critical information...I would not risk it.
Get a new interface (dock/cable/caddy) between drive and PC.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Phillip Corcoran and Artisanico
Artisanico said:
I have also got a Trust variable transformer whose lowest output is given as 14V = 6A. Will this fry my HDD?
Click to expand...
Okay I try my best to be as neutral on my reply's on Tom's being a moderator on an Audio forum I get the line that needs to be towed to keep balance but Man listen to the posts before me and just get a new caddy.

If your still asking if a 14v 6 amp = 84 watts will be ok. Take the advice and get a new caddy.
 
Artisanico said:
I have also got a Trust variable transformer whose lowest output is given as 14V = 6A. Will this fry my HDD?
Click to expand...
If your caddy feeds the DC supply voltage directly into the +12V part of the hard disk, then connecting 14V will destroy the drive. DO NOT USE THE 14V SUPPLY. There may be a small DC-to-DC converter circuit in the caddy to provide the additional +5V supply required by the drive from the +12V input.

An old fashioned PATA hard disk needs two DC supplies, as defined by the ATX standard, which if I remember correctly are:

1). +5V DC +/- 0.25V, i.e. between 4.75V and 5.25V
2). +12V DC +/- 0.6V, i.e. between 11.4V and 12.6V

Artisanico said:
I do have a PC and it has an IDE cable (so presumably doesn't need the other IDE-related item mentioned?)
Click to expand...
If the end of the ribbon cable has a 40-way IDC connector and you have a spare 4-way Molex power cable in the PC, that would be my preferred option. Just connect the data cable to the hard disk. Note the "bump" midway along the 40-way plug. There should be a matching "notch" (keyway) on the hard disk connector.

IDE data cable.

iu



Molex power cable (magnified view).

Note the two bevelled corners on the power connector. You MUST match these corners with those on the back of the hard disk drive DC input. They're designed to stop you from plugging the power cable in the wrong way round, but if you use enough sheer brute force, you can cram the lead in reverse and kill the hard disk. Take care and observe polarity.

iu
 
  • Like
Reactions: Artisanico
Ralston18 said:
Intermission.,....

@Artisanico

Where is all of your important data safely and securely backed up - at least 2 x and to different locations?

Just consider that all else may become vapor.....
Click to expand...
I had it backed up n three drives. One was a USB which I wiped because it was corrupted, the other was another HDD and this is also corrupted and I am performing data recovery.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Moderators online

Share this page

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom