Orange wire in SATA - Molex to SATA Power Converter

[McManCSU]

My PSU doesnt have any SATA power plugs, so i will need to get something like this: http://www.sun-usb.com/ImgPath/Serial%20SATA%20Power%20Adapter.jpg
Something I have noticed is that the normal SATA connector has an orange wire (3.3V) which is not on the Molex. I looked in some other forums, and it didn't seem like this would really be an issue, but I wanted to be doubly sure.

Besides color discrimination, is there a reason why this wire is there? Are there certain drives which require a 3.3v pin?

 

[Bremen]

Originally posted by: McManCSU

Besides color discrimination, is there a reason why this wire is there? Are there certain drives which require a 3.3v pin?

I don't believe they've released anything that requires 3.3V yet (I think this was mostly put in for laptops anyway...)

 

[Lord Evermore]

It would be rather silly to have an adapter available that didn't take this into account, if it mattered. You would almost certainly be warned by labels if a device required the 3.3V line, and when they do start becoming common, they might figure out an adapter that can supply it (maybe connected to the ATX power cable) and include one with the early devices. The only thing at the moment that you lose is likely the hotplug capability.