New PSU connecting to 15 year old hard drives

[Componentgirl90]

I am building a legacy system and will attempt to install two old IDE hard drives from around the year 2000. (30 and 40Gb). How will I be able to plug a modern PSU into the power sockets for these hard drives?

 

[Wolfshadw]

Even modern power supplies have legacy 4-Pin molex power connectors.

-Wolf sends

 

[smorizio]

wolf want take a bet when he plugs those drives in they act like a belt sander and go across the test bench

 

[Wolfshadw]

Nope. Because I have an 18 year old 4GB drive that works just fine.

-Wolf sends

 

[i7Baby]

See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ATX

"ATX (Advanced Technology eXtended) is a motherboard configuration specification developed by Intel in 1995 to improve on previous de facto standards like the AT design. It was the first major change in desktop computer enclosure, motherboard and power supply design in many years, improving standardization and interchangeability of parts. The specification defines the key mechanical dimensions, mounting point, I/O panel, power and connector interfaces between a computer case, a motherboard and a power supply."

The ATX standard has been around a while.

 

[Componentgirl90]

lol i hope it doesn't explode,

So out of interest does IDE/SATA refer to the data link or does it refer to the power cable as well? I only ask as some of the power cables with my EVGA G2 Supernova had Sata written on them I think.

and he is a she!

 

[Wolfshadw]

Yes. SATA refers to both power and data transfer connection types. IDE Drives only used 4-pin molex cables (at least as far as I know, 18+ years). I'm 99% sure that all SATA drives have SATA power ports.

-Wolf sends

 

[jsmithepa]

lol i hope it doesn't explode

There is no age discrimination in hardware, only human does that. 😉

So out of interest does IDE/SATA refer to the data link or does it refer to the power cable as well? I only ask as some of the power cables with my EVGA G2 Supernova had Sata written on them I think.

More data link than power.

IDE and Sata data link are completely different animals, not interchangeable.

IDE and Sata Power is really just a physical reconfiguration of the pins on the cable, in a smaller and thinner plug. On both you still have the needed 5V and 12V and of course ground. The 3.5V on Sata power is there but many times not used. So if you have one of those modular PSU, is a matter of plugin in the correct cable, many times to the same PSU modular socket. This also means you can use an older PSU with no Sata power by just using an Molex 4-pin to Sata power adapter.