Power port on old iMac G5 SATA drive

[cplum]

I have a 250gb Western Digital drive that based on the part number I think I pulled from an iMac G5 long ago. I'm considering using a SATA -> USB adapter like the following to see what's on the drive:

SATA to USB 3.0 Adapter, External Hard Drive Converter Cable for 2.5" 3.5" HDD, SSD with Power Supply

This SATA converter works with both HDD and SDD. If you are looking to check a drive, repair a drive, clone drives, make backups, or use a stand-alone internal hard drive as an external, rest assured this is what you want SATA to USB 3.0 adapter supports UASP Technology, which is 70...

www.amazon.com

However, my drive has, in addition to the SATA power port, your typical 4pin power molex port. This is not typical of SATA drives. If I use the above adapter, will I also need to separately provide power to this port?

 

[Fishrrman]

OP:

I'm thinking that you have a PATA drive (parallel ATA) and NOT a SATA drive.

I think you need an adapter like this:

FIDECO USB 3.0 to SATA or IDE Adapter, Hard Drive Adapter Cable Universal for 2.5/3.5 inch SATA HDD/SSD & IDE HDD with 12V Power Adapter

FIDECO USB 3.0 to SATA or IDE Adapter, Hard Drive Adapter Cable Universal for 2.5/3.5 inch SATA HDD/SSD & IDE HDD with 12V Power Adapter

www.amazon.com

Or, use as a search string:
"PATA to USB adapter"

(I could be wrong)

 

[PaulD-UK]

I had SATA 1 drives with the Molex power socket as well as the SATA power pins. I used them with a G5 tower.
Either socket works fine.

This HD will be over 20 years old, and even when new it was a slow performer…

Like in this picture:

[SOLVED] - Can a 4-pin (Molex) connector power a hard disk drive safely?

I built a computer for my father with an AMD Ryzen 3 2200G and 8 GB of RAM recently; I'll call this computer the "Ryzen 3 PC". My father's old computer that has about 1 GB of RAM and an Intel Pentium D 805 recently stopped showing anything on screen; I will call this the "Pentium PC" for...

forums.tomshardware.com

 

[cplum]

OP:

I'm thinking that you have a PATA drive (parallel ATA) and NOT a SATA drive.

It's definitely SATA. It's a WD2500JS. Clearly has SATA power and interface ports on it. Says "Serial ATA hard drive" on the label.

 

[cplum]

I had SATA 1 drives with the Molex power socket as well as the SATA power pins. I used them with a G5 tower.
Either socket works fine.

This HD will be over 20 years old, and even when new it was a slow performer…

Like in this picture:

[SOLVED] - Can a 4-pin (Molex) connector power a hard disk drive safely?

I built a computer for my father with an AMD Ryzen 3 2200G and 8 GB of RAM recently; I'll call this computer the "Ryzen 3 PC". My father's old computer that has about 1 GB of RAM and an Intel Pentium D 805 recently stopped showing anything on screen; I will call this the "Pentium PC" for...

forums.tomshardware.com

Yes, that picture in the link is what mine looks like. So it looks like I should be able to use the SATA -> USB adapter I mentioned and just ignore the Molex power socket. I don't care how slow it is. I just want to see what is on the drive.

BTW, there is also a 4" 4-pin cable affixed to mini (1/2" square) circuit board on the side of the drive. I'm guessing it plugged into the motherboard of the iMac. Not to sure what it is for, but probably was done custom for Apple. Any ideas?

 

[Anonymous Freak]

I have a 250gb Western Digital drive that based on the part number I think I pulled from an iMac G5 long ago. I'm considering using a SATA -> USB adapter like the following to see what's on the drive:

SATA to USB 3.0 Adapter, External Hard Drive Converter Cable for 2.5" 3.5" HDD, SSD with Power Supply

This SATA converter works with both HDD and SDD. If you are looking to check a drive, repair a drive, clone drives, make backups, or use a stand-alone internal hard drive as an external, rest assured this is what you want SATA to USB 3.0 adapter supports UASP Technology, which is 70...

www.amazon.com

However, my drive has, in addition to the SATA power port, your typical 4pin power molex port. This is not typical of SATA drives. If I use the above adapter, will I also need to separately provide power to this port?

That's a "for legacy systems", you can use either power plug, you don't have to use both. Many early SATA drives had both power ports on them.

 

[PaulD-UK]

@cplum "here is also a 4" 4-pin cable affixed to mini (1/2" square) circuit board on the side of the drive."

That sounds like it could be an iMac HD temperature sensor, so not needed to access the contents of the drive.