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I recently bought a PATA/IDE Samsung DVD burner with Lightscribe ($25 at MicroCenter!) and I have always had a USB 2.0 to SATA/eSATA/IDE cable lying around. This is the cable: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812156102 Now, I plug in the IDE burner and it doesn't turn on. Do I need a separate power adapter? Please help :)

From what i see in the link you posted you will need to supply the power to the burner if you are connecting it using the PATA/IDE interface. There should be a 4 pin cable which supply the power to the burner. Did you connect it?

Also try connecting it directly to a powered USB port on your computer (no hub in between).
 
Yes, the 4 pin connector next to the actual 40-way ide connector needs power. I know there's a 12v, a 5v and a gnd there, and i know there's 2 of one of the powers, but don't remember which, been a while since i needed to know...

The picture of your connector box here http://www.newegg.com/Product/ShowI...ion=BYTECC BT-300 USB 2.0 to IDE/SATA Adapter shows the IDE connection. No scope for power from the device there, or on any other face for an IDE/PATA drive in standard molex form.

The SATA interface, however, has power there as well as data. There are little dongley wires for PC modders that get a SATA power connector out of a standard 4-pin PC molex. One of these used backwards http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812105409 should get you power assuming you are plugging the supplied wall-socket kit in. Note that the 4-pin molex on this connector is female not male (as it's not meant to be used this way round) so you'll need to stack it with something like this http://www.newegg.com/Product/ShowI...able with Blue LED Light Model A2369 - Retail - a bit excessive with all the LED and stuff, but would work in this case - just connect the SATA to molex plug to the BYTECC, stack any old molex y splitter with it and connect the remaining molex of the y into your optical drive. So long as the PSU supplied with the BYTECC box can give enough juice, you're done. Consider taping up the 1 output of the y split that you aren't using maybe... :cool:
 
Haha, ya I got it now. I plugged the 4-pin plug into my IDE connector instead of the drive :) It works now! Not only can I burn a CD in a minute, but I can now look ghetto in the process :D Thanks!!
 
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