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I have an extra IDE hard drive laying around and decided to add it onto my new computer. I opened the tower and tried to install it, but the power cord is too short to reach the second hard drive. Anyone know where I can find an IDE internal hard drive power cord extension? It seems like a small thing, but I cannot find one anywhere.
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Unless you need a real long extension, Goto a local computer store and ask for a "Y" power cable. The two tails aren't real long usually, but if you only need 3 or 4 inchs they work fine.They tried to Assimilate me and failed! -
a warning tho, short and few power leads are usually associated with lame power supplies, beware the propritary mini atx power supplies. they burn up easily and cost an arm and a leg to replaceComment
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Ain't that the truth. I never could figure out why some of these companies put such weak power supplies in thier systems.They tried to Assimilate me and failed!Comment
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Thanks Abuilder and Chewy. I have a 300 Watt power supply, but it's likely not a great one since I have a Gateway, off the shelf system. And using the extension cable is actually a lazy workaround. If I could remove the hard drive that came with the machine and flip it upside down before reinserting it, the power cable would be just long enough. But they've hidden the screws holding that hard drive in on one side, and I can't see any way of removing them easily. So even a one or two inch extension cable will do the trick.
Just to be clear. The Y extension will attach to the female end of the four pin, hard drive power cable, then have its own female end to attach to the male end that's on the hard drive itself?Comment
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The Y is one male split into two females so you would end up with and extra female to add another drive.
one male split into two females? The wonders of advanced medicine. LOLThey tried to Assimilate me and failed!Comment
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Thank you.Comment
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The Y-connector was exactly what I needed. Thank you. While I was inside the case, I added a couple Gigs of memory and another DVD burner I had in an old computer. The burner is now recessed about an inch behind the face plate of the computer. I only saw the two holes along the side to mount the drive. Is there some way to mount the drive so it would be more forward and not leave this gap all around it for dust to set in? I'm thinking I'll just tape around the edges to seal the opening, but it's going to look ugly and leave tape goo if I ever want to remove it.Comment
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While you are inside your computer check the IDE cables primary and secondary and see if they are the 40 pin 80 lead cables and not the 40 pin 40 lead cables, cheap to change out.
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AK
Most Gateways use a clip system in the drive bays that work with any drive (usually). Did you push the new drive in from the front?
If not, allign the drive in place and use a hot glue gun and put just a couple of drops along side the drive and cage inside the case. That makes is easy to remove again if you need.
Ed
I agree about the 80 pin cable but some CowBoxes (Gateways) use a cable select to ID the drives so putting a 80 pin in will mess up the drives ID and neither will work.Last edited by Abuilder; 18 Feb 2007, 08:31 AM.They tried to Assimilate me and failed!Comment
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Yeah - I pushed the new drive in from the front. I had to remove the side rails that I'd used to install it in my old computer because that made it too wide for the new box, which seems to only work by screwing the drive into the metal dvd drive enclosure. The dvd drive that came with the system has a forward lip as part of the tray that brings it up flush with the front of the facing.
I think there are actually two things that can work to keep the dust out, which is my primary concern since I don't really care what the thing looks like as long as it works. I can drill screw mount holes further forward in the metal dvd drive enclosure, or I can tape the opening to close the gap. I believe at this time I'm just going to tape it. The computer is working great in its new souped up condition and I'm hesitant to mess with success.
Is there actually any utility to changing the type of ribbon cable to either the hard drives or the dvd writers, as Ed suggested? They are long enough and seem to be working fine (only the power cable to the hard drives was too short originally). And even though the gateway hard drive and dvd writer were both set to "cable select" initially, I re-jumpered them to make them the masters and set my add-ons as slaves. And like I said, they are both working great.Comment
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you are good to go then, just leave everything master/slave, make sure the master is on the end of the cable and then mounted above the slave,And like I said, they are both working great.
the 80 conductor cable only allow higher dma values when the motherboard and drive support itComment
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I have done that in the past to make for a nice flush appearance, but now I figure, what's the point? For me, it's under the desk out of sight anyway!I can drill screw mount holes further forward in the metal dvd drive enclosure
Well, not actually in the dvd drive case, but in the side rails.
And, the extra gap there is allowing for more airflow/cooling
The pc is already getting dust into in from numerous air intake holes, etc., so what's another small opening gonna hurt?
I don't worry about that too much anyway, since I blow things out every 6 mo. or so!Comment
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Just check you computer every 30 days or so and blow out the dust as needed. I usually use my air compressor and blow out the dust.Star Baby Girl, Born March,1997 Died June 30th 2007 6:35 PM.
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