temporarily power a SATA HD off a different pc?

[froeschli]

I have a "clicking" hard drive. obviously, I want to copy the contents to a different drive, before it is completely dead.
Problem: it is a storage only drive (no operating system on it), and the MB only has 2 SATA connectors. - one to the boot drive, one to the "storage" HD. I have no idea if I could copy the content whilst booting off the (HP) recovery disc - on a mac I wouldn't hesitate to proceed.
I don't want to install an operating system on my new drive either.

I have a second, older PC that has a MB with 4 SATA connectors, using only one. Problem there is, that one doesn't have enough of a power supply to support three drives (boot, and the other two)

So, can I theoretically place the two machines next to one another, power my two hard drives off the one machine, whilst plugging the SATA cables into the other?

It seems such a simple concept, there's got to be a catch.....

Thanks.

 

[giantbucket]

i wouldn't try that as you might have issues. grounding COULD be similar / same, but if it's not you'll have more dead parts than just a ticking hard drive. it only takes a fraction of a second to zap something.

(though just how marginal IS your older pc's power supply? hard drives only take 8-10 watts each, so you must be running a 250W supply if 3 drives could kill it?)

if you like your main machine and would keep it for a while, considering buying a PCI card that has 2-3 SATA ports. might only run you $20, and could always be moved to a newer machine for more-more-more ports (cuz really 5 ports is never enough)

another option is copying via network - if you have a router/switch/hub, and both machines can see it each other, share the one drive and copy stuff to a new drive in the other machine. might not be fast, but it's an option.

 

[bliq]

can you borrow a USB enclosure?

also could you swap the more powerful PSU into the 4 SATA port machine? you don't have to actually mount it, just leave it hanging out of the case if necessary (preferably touching the case though).

 

[clutchc]

Unless I'm misunderstanding you, it seems you need another SATA power connection? You can use a MOLEX to SATA power adapter and plug it into any Molex from the PSU.

Or are you actually talking about the SATA data connection?

 

[leeb2013]

no, the lack of a common ground might cause damage. You could put a ground wire between the two cases. Alternatively, you can get adapters from Ebay for around $10 which will power an internal HDD and provide a USB connection.

 

[clutchc]

If both PCs are plugged into the same outlet or any outlet in the same bldg. on a properly grounded system, they will have a common ground via the ground wire from outlet to PSU.

 

[leeb2013]

and there are ground wires in the SATA cable, but it's just not designed to work that way. There is current flowing in the earth wire back to the mains, the wire has a finite impedance, there will be some volt drop. There will be another volt drop in the mains cable to the second PC which could be different, hence the ground potential could be different. You connect a SATA cable which effectively connects one PC ground to the other and you have unknown current flowing between the two which could damage something.

If there's a <$10 alternative, which would avoid the risk of some type of strange fault occurring, then I'd go for that. That's the catch.

 

[clutchc]

@ leeb2013
Are we talking the SATA power cable or the SATA data cable? I'm assuming he meant the power cable.