Question Seagate Baraccuda and SATA - I'm completely ignorant

[steffanmathias]

Hi,

I've looked on loads of online guides but am really struggling. The case for my seagate barracuda 7200.12 broke a couple of years ago. A friend cracked it open to get the harddrive out and said I would be able to connect a SATA cable, which I've bought. I've plugged it in but it's not doing anything. I feel like it is mean to have a power connection but don't know how to do this. I've attached two photos if this helps.

Steffan

 

[dlerious]

I have something like that - USB to SATA. It has both power and data connections and works pretty good with the SSDs I've attached. I don't know that it can supply enough power for a spinning HDD. There's a molex connection on the drive if you want to take a chance with that.

Was this in an external enclosure? Asking because you have to do something with some shucked WD drives to get them working (kapton tape on SATA power connector pin) , not sure if Seagate is similar.

 

[VirtualLarry]

You need a specific USB-to-SATA adapter that has an additional power brick, and specifically works with 3.5" HDDs. Most USB-to-SATA wires are ONLY for +5V-only drives that can be powered straight off of the USB port, like laptop 2.5" HDDs, and most SATA 2.5" SSDs.

They do make ones that work with 3.5" HDDs, they have a barrel plug input on the side of the connector, and come with a power brick.

The reason for this is, desktop HDDs require +12V power, @ 20W or so, and the USB port just doesn't supply that voltage or even equivalent wattage.