Power adapter splitter from SATA combo cable?

Sesame

Junior Member
Jan 23, 2013
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A DVD-drive inside my computer is connected via a SATA "combo" (power+data) connector.
I want to attach an SSD to a SATA PCIe card (7-pin connector I assume) but need to power the drive as well.
Since there are no unused power connectors inside the computer I'm thinking I can "tap" power from the DVD-drive, and feed that into the SSD.

I imagine there must be some sort of adapter connector/cable which plugs into the DVD-drive, extracting power from it while still keeping the existing power/data connection to the DVD-drive.

I thought I found it here:
SATA-Power-Y-Splitter.jpg

Camera
Canon EOS 20D

Focal Length
60mm

Aperture
f/5

Exposure
1/160s

ISO
100





Camera
Canon EOS 20D

Focal Length
60mm

Aperture
f/5

Exposure
1/160s

ISO
100

..... but it looks like the rightmost drive relies on a 7-pin data connector rather than a 7+15 pin "combo" connector which I have connected to the DVD-drive.

Are there any suitable adapters/cables for this available?
 
Last edited:

DominionSeraph

Diamond Member
Jul 22, 2009
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I think you'd need a 7 pin extender cable to go with the power splitter. But as that might not fit that 22 pin connector, it's probably best just to not use the data line on that combo cable and just run two separate data cables.
 
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ElFenix

Elite Member
Super Moderator
Mar 20, 2000
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i'm interested in seeing this combo power/data cable, i've not seen one before
 

Sesame

Junior Member
Jan 23, 2013
13
0
66
I took a look inside the computer and found this at the other end of the two SATA "combo" connectors (one of them is connected to the DVD-drive, the other connected to an SSD):

  • on the motherboard (the other end of the two "combo" cables):
    • two SATA 7-pin right-angled connectors
    • one small square 4-pin power connector ("PCIe power connector" I believe it's called, or is it an "ATX power connector"?)
    psu.12vs.jpg


There are also two power cables from the motherboard connected to the ATI 5870 graphic card. The cable ends that go to the graphic card:

  • two big 6-pin squared power connectors (called a "PCIe power connector" as well?)
pcie6.jpeg



Having given it a little thought I'm a little hesitant about using those combo power adapters as they're bulky and can easily loosen when mounting the drives, so I agree with you guys not to use the "combo" cables if I can avoid it.
I figure I can simply replace the data part of the "combo" cables with one 7-pin SATA cable for each drive.

The challenge is supplying power to all 3 drives :confused:
I can see one of two options, if any such adapters/cables exist:

  1. a 4-pin PCIe power connector at one end of a long (approx 50cm) cable with 3x SATA 15-pin power connectors at the other end (the 3 drives are right next to each other)
  2. a 6-pin PCIe power connector/adapter which plugs into the graphic card as before, but splits into an additional long (approx 50cm) cable which goes to the SATA drives and ends up as 3 SATA 15-pin power connectors.
Is anything resembling one of those available?
 
Last edited:

mfenn

Elite Member
Jan 17, 2010
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www.mfenn.com
You won't be able to use any of the PCIe power connectors because they only supply 12V whereas a SATA power connector needs to supply at least 5V and 12V.

What does the other end of the data portion of your combo connector terminate in? If it's just an normal SATA cable, you could replace the combo with a normal SATA Y adapter and some normal SATA data cables.
 

Sesame

Junior Member
Jan 23, 2013
13
0
66
Yes, they're just regular SATA drives.
The Y adapter and regular SATA cables makes complete sense. Thanks for clearing up the confusion :)