I've seen the IDE to USB adapter cables you can buy to hook a regular drive up externally for file transfers. Has anyone ever attempted to make one? I can figure out the power part easy enough. Take a connector from a 12V PC component, a power adapter that outputs 12V and connect them, right? Is there a way I can take a USB cable and rig it to work with a regualr IDE cable. The basic reasons I want to try this is because I like to tinker, I have the extra parts laying around, and why should I pay for something I can make myself? My goal with this is to take an extra hard drive I have and 1-2 times a month hook it up and transfer photos and backup data for storage. I have no intention to use this as a full time device. Otherwise, I would invest in either an external drive or an external enclosure. Edit: Nevermind. I think I may have just messed up a hard drive trying it. The output of the adapter I hooked up was 1.25A and the hard drive only runs on 601mA max. I only had it hooked up for about 10 seconds and I smelled something funny. Now the drive smells a little weird. I'm just going to buy an enclosure. Luckily the drive was an older one that I didn't need.
Looks like I'm too late. They're so cheap, why bother risking it? You need to have an appropriate current limit on the drive in case something goes wrong. Overall it's the voltage that's critical, and it needs to be EXACTLY 12V and 5V. If you're a bit over, you may fry the disk, this is how faulty PSUs kill drives.
I was only going to try it becaus I don't have the extra cash for one right now. I have a baby on the way and paying off bills before he gets here is priority over a drive enclosure. Would the amps from that supply have been enough to fry the drive in a few seconds?
So what do the numbers printed on teh drive mean? +12V 601mA +5V 559mA I was assuming that 12 volts was the max it would need, so as long as it didn't go above that it would be fine. Was I wrong? I'm not formally educated on this kind of thing, so likely I am wrong.
what it requires to run. not enough amperage & drive won't spin. also shows you that if you take that amp # of the drive from what the psu has in total 12v say 20amps than you know how many amps left to supply other drives & boards.
The maximum current supply is irrelevant, you could power something that used 1mA off a supply that could give 100A and be fine, just as you do every day with mains electricity. What's most important is to make sure the 5V and 12V rails (a hard disk needs both, 12 to work the spindle and heads, 5 to run the access circuitry) are a) stable and correct and b) the right way round. If they weren't there is a possibility that they could fry the drive immediately.
Im very intrested in trying this myself just for fun. Now i have the power covered with an old AT PSU, and im far from worried about frying the HDDs. I have plenty of old 1 or 2 gigers just lying around. Now ive found these two pin out pages, one for IDE http://pinouts.ru/HD/AtaInternal_pinout.shtml and one for USB http://pinouts.ru/Slots/USB_pinout.shtml and i have the cables but im at a loss when it comes to what goes to what. I have a general idea but any help would be greatly appreciated.
Seriously why bother, just for a project to test your electronics skills? Pff, go ahead, but It ain't going to be easy.
Cpt_Howdy, don't bother as it won't work just with cable as you also need a multiplexer chip besides other components.
As i suspected, you can't just plug here and there, we've seen someone trash a hard disk already doing that. So what if they're expendable? Sell em! might not make much but why destroy them so unceremoniously after years of service?
Oh well it just seemed like something fun to do in my spare time anyway. Just for curiositys sake does anyone know what exactly would be needed?
i would not waste ye time making a usb cable here it is only a $1.99 at a local flea market..same with IDE cables..
sorry i read it wrong, also i seen those kits for as little as $5.00 old info but a good read http://www.dansdata.com/usbadapt.htm
Hmm, funny, recommended yet his experiences were far from great. I'll stick with my Akasa Integral thanks. Doesn't like switching from one PC to another with the drive still on (You get a This USB device has malfunctioned message) but turn off, spin down then turn on and spin up again and it's fine. £20 well spent, which i notice isn't a great deal less than that cable was he bought (works out at $38 atm I think). Enclosed box and everything, plus an illuminated end USB cable and a big LED panel on the side of the box.
