Installing a serial ATA drive...

[Exfoliate]

Alright, I've mounted my drive and plugged in what I think are the right cables. I've got that red thin one with the black heads in and I know that's right. Then I hooked up that special serial cable guy (with the wide, thin, black heads) and attached him to a 4-pin molex cable. In my book I don't see how that could be wrong, the drive needs power right. Yet the PC Gamers Builders Bible says don't use both. I'm assuming that they mean don't use the extra molex slot in addition to what I already have plugged in, but I don't want to blow it so I thought I'd run it by all of you. So what should I do? Leave it as is or do some unplugging? Thanks.

 

[Exfoliate]

Sorry everyone, I said screw it and booted up. Everything works perfectly so I had it right I guess.

 

[Big B]

Yeah, from what I understand, it screws with the drive to have both the molex and SATA power cable plugged in.

 

[Exfoliate]

Sweet sig Big B.

 

[harrack52]

Not sure if I understand this correctly, but you should have two cables plugged in your hard drive: the data one, and the power one, which is EITHER the molex or the special sata one (if your psu has one).

 

[ninja fetus]

if you have special power cable, and molex you are running 24V into your HDD :(! (I think)

 

[Anti-Trend]

Yeah, some SATA HDDs have both the SATA power connector and the legacy 4-pin Molex connector. If your PSU has SATA power connectors, use that, If it only has the old 4-pin type, use that one. But never, ever, use both at once, or you can permanently damage your HDD.

 

[Exfoliate]

Basically I've got the red data cable plugged in, as well as the special sata one, which connects to a molex that leads back to the psu of course. Anyway it works so why fix what ain't broke.