Question Can a SATA power cable not be compatible with your motherboard?

[egderic]

Hi there,

I have my 4 TB HDD that I want to carry over to my new computer which I bought from an office garage sale. It has our movies, all my documents, etc.. The OS is in the new computer's M2 SSD.

I didn't have the cables I needed to connect extra Hard drives, so I bought these:

Amazon.ca

Unfortunately, as soon the HDD is plugged in, it just won't POST.

Now I'm wondering if maybe I bought the wrong kind of cables for this kind of motherboard? Or maybe these cables are just bad quality?

If it's not that I don't understand why it would prevent a POST now. It worked on my old PC just fine.

The new PC:

Lenovo Thinkstation P520

Processor: Xeon 2123 (8 cores @ 3.6 ghz)
64 GB RAM
1 TB M2 SSD

 

[USAFRet]

SATA power comes from your power supply, to the drives.
Not to the motherboard.

SATA data cables attach to your motherboard ports. An d they are all the same standard.

I didn't have the cables I needed to connect extra Hard drives, so I bought these:

Do you have that exact referenced power supply?

 

[hotaru.hino]

Hi there,

I have my 4 TB HDD that I want to carry over to my new computer which I bought from an office garage sale. It has our movies, all my documents, etc.. The OS is in the new computer's M2 SSD.

I didn't have the cables I needed to connect extra Hard drives, so I bought these:

Amazon.ca

Unfortunately, as soon the HDD is plugged in, it just won't POST.

Now I'm wondering if maybe I bought the wrong kind of cables for this kind of motherboard? Or maybe these cables are just bad quality?

If it's not that I don't understand why it would prevent a POST now. It worked on my old PC just fine.

The new PC:

Lenovo Thinkstation P520

Processor: Xeon 2123 (8 cores @ 3.6 ghz)
64 GB RAM
1 TB M2 SSD

In the product listing it says:

for EVGA Supernova 650 750 850 1000 1600 2000 G2 G3 P2 T2 GS 40cm+15cm+15cm​

These are specific power supply models. So yes, you bought incompatble cables.

Actually I don't even know how you're plugging this cable in because there shouldn't be any female Minifit connectors coming out of a PSU and the model of that workstation doesn't have a modular power supply.

In any case, if you need more SATA power, this might work: https://www.amazon.ca/Modeshell-2-Pack-Splitter-Female-Extension/dp/B07PRSWY5L

 

[egderic]

I'm using (or trying to use) one of the 6-pin power supplies on the side of the Mobo

How can you tell that those are incompatible with the lenovo? I can't even tell what kind of power supply this Lenovo has. Their site isn't very helpful, and it doesn't say on the box.

Thanks for the recommendation, I'll try those out! I just saw the 6-pin things on the side of the Mobo, and I thought those could power SATA.

I just tried my HDD on my 'old' computer, and it just isn't detected anymore, even with power supply/SATA that worked earlier today. I even plugged it into one of the SATA cables that came with my newer rig (it comes with SOME, but they're too short to get both my old HDD and SSD connected.

Works fine for my old SSD, but not my old HDD.
That's a looot of data on that HDD, I hope I can get it all back...

 

[USAFRet]

I'm using (or trying to use) one of the 6-pin power supplies on the side of the Mobo

No.

You may have killed that HDD.
Yes, really.

Do NOT plug anything else into whatever you are trying to do.

 

[hotaru.hino]

I'm using (or trying to use) one of the 6-pin power supplies on the side of the Mobo

That's for adding extra PCIe power, as there may not be enough from the 24-pin connector to do that. With workstations, it's expected that they might use expansion cards that need more power than what a consumer might throw in there.

Granted I do think it's a stupid idea EVGA used a standard PCIe Minifit connector, but eh, I get why they did it.

How can you tell that those are incompatible with the lenovo? I can't even tell what kind of power supply this Lenovo has. Their site isn't very helpful, and it doesn't say on the box.

Because PSU cables tend to be specific to the PSU they come with. In addition, with the exception of 12VO boards, motherboards don't have an "outlet" to power peripherals.

Thanks for the recommendation, I'll try those out! I just saw the 6-pin things on the side of the Mobo, and I thought those could power SATA.

I just tried my HDD on my 'old' computer, and it just isn't detected anymore, even with power supply/SATA that worked earlier today. I even plugged it into one of the SATA cables that came with my newer rig (it comes with SOME, but they're too short to get both my old HDD and SSD connected.

Works fine for my old SSD, but not my old HDD.
That's a looot of data on that HDD, I hope I can get it all back...

It's very likely you killed it.

 

[egderic]

Thanks, well, I learned something new today.

I could hire a data-recovery service, but they'd charge $1250 CA + tax if they can recover the data (none if they can't). I don't think it's worth it. I'll replace the drive, but I'll probably never see that data again. 🙁

I might just take it to a local computer repair shop and just roll the dice.

Luckily, any projects I was working on, I kept in a Sync folder. Still a pain in the ass though.