What connector is this on my Mac Pro DVD drive?

[harveypooka]

I have a spare DVD drive and decided to install it in my Mac Pro.

When I opened up my case I found there was a standard Molex power cable, but the existing DVD drive in there had the above adaptor, with one spare to attach another drive with.

My spare drive has space for SATA cables, that's about it.

Any ideas what adaptor this is?

 

[robbieduncan]

Looks like a standard PATA/IDE cable. As fitted to all original Mac Pros for optical drives: they did not use SATA optical drives.

 

[r.j.s]

That's an IDE connector.

 

[nicfargo]

It's an IDE connector for sure...computers still come with these don't they? I'm not getting that old am I (geesh, I'm only 25 :-D)? This is exactly how I felt when I found out kids who are currently in high school don't know what cassette tapes or records are.

 

[Sean Dempsey]

oh my god. At first I looked around the pic, I couldn't figure out what you were talking about, I just saw an IDE cable blocking whatever it is you were trying to show us.

Then I realized...

You were asking what an IDE cable was.

 

[rtrt]

a

 

[sickmacdoc]

assuming you mean the red yellow black cable - it looks to me like a converter so you can power a sata drive

Actually that one is the power cable that is used on IDE drives- a
Molex power connector. The other one as noted is the IDE data cable.

 

[jrlcopy]

oh my god. At first I looked around the pic, I couldn't figure out what you were talking about, I just saw an IDE cable blocking whatever it is you were trying to show us.

Then I realized...

You were asking what an IDE cable was.

Haha, I laughed so hard.. It is interesting how people who started on PC and transitioned to MAC's knowledge varys so much compared to people who have only known MAC.

I wouldn't trade my PC years for anything, the ability to diagnose things, know how the computer works, installing programs, startup operations, etc...

 

[grue]

Haha, I laughed so hard.. It is interesting how people who started on PC and transitioned to MAC's knowledge varys so much compared to people who have only known MAC.

I wouldn't trade my PC years for anything, the ability to diagnose things, know how the computer works, installing programs, startup operations, etc...

That's a pretty ill-conceived stereotype.

For every Mac user who can't change a hard drive, there are plenty of PC users who can't either.

Likewise, there are plenty of Mac people who've never owned a PC but could easily build one from scratch.

 

[Ploki]

its true.
you are both true. the thing is, its all in percentages.
(im making this up)
10% of ALL computer users are able to change a hardrive.
10% of ALL are Mac, and 90% are PC.
that makes 1% of Mac users being able to change hardrive, and 9% of PC users to change a hardrive.
its funny.

but i didnt have to open my mac not once. while pc had to be open all the time.
+ i wouldnt dream of overclocking it and installing extra fans in it like it did to my PC. (i had a power switch on, two 5" metal fans, sounded like a turbine) i learned so much. with blowing up the graphic card. and stuff.

just last day i was going around my stuff and if found a 5.25" Floppy (im only 21 , i really only used one in my life )

 

[grue]

its true.
you are both true. the thing is, its all in percentages.
(im making this up)
10% of ALL computer users are able to change a hardrive.
10% of ALL are Mac, and 90% are PC.
that makes 1% of Mac users being able to change hardrive, and 9% of PC users to change a hardrive.
its funny.

but i didnt have to open my mac not once. while pc had to be open all the time.
+ i wouldnt dream of overclocking it and installing extra fans in it like it did to my PC. (i had a power switch on, two 5" metal fans, sounded like a turbine) i learned so much. with blowing up the graphic card. and stuff.

just last day i was going around my stuff and if found a 5.25" Floppy (im only 21 , i really only used one in my life )

Your (admittedly made up) statistics rely on the fallacy that the proportion of HD-changers to non-HD changers is the same in both populations…

But while we're comparing our hackboxes… a decade or so ago, my Power Mac 8600 had a 4 disk RAID array in the bottom of the case, the floppy drive was removed to make room for another drive (these were all SCSI, mind you, so you had termination to worry about), and I had a slot-loading DVD drive and a CD burner, before Apple offered either. To decode DVDs I had to use a hardware decoder board which didn't have 2D output, so it used a video passthrough cable where the output some a 2D card was brought in on one port, then passed back out in another.. This was especially fun because I was using a ATI Rage 128 Pro for my 2D and OpenGL content, which passed the signal through a pair of Voodoo2 cards in SLI. I only had 3 PCI slots though, so I had to remove a card to make room when I wanted to watch a DVD.

Trust me, just because most of Apple's customers are sheep who'd buy Steve Job's feces in a box as long as the box looked nice, doesn't mean there aren't the old timers like me who feel it's our right to bitch about Apple's current product line because we kept Apple in business before they were "cool"

 

[Tallest Skil]

its true.
you are both true. the thing is, its all in percentages.
(im making this up)
10% of ALL computer users are able to change a hardrive.
10% of ALL are Mac, and 90% are PC.
that makes 1% of Mac users being able to change hardrive, and 9% of PC users to change a hardrive.
its funny.

It's funny that you got your modifiers wrong, at least.

if you're saying that 10% of ALL users know how (fallacy), then it wouldn't be ONE percent of all Mac users, it would be one percent of ALL computer users, meaning 10% of the Mac population.

just last day i was going around my stuff and if found a 5.25" Floppy...

I still have a 5.25" hard drive....

 

[jrlcopy]

I still have a 5.25" hard drive....

Would the mac pro know what to do with it? Does the logic board have a floppy connector? lol.

 

[Ploki]

It's funny that you got your modifiers wrong, at least.

if you're saying that 10% of ALL users know how (fallacy), then it wouldn't be ONE percent of all Mac users, it would be one percent of ALL computer users, meaning 10% of the Mac population.

well thats not funny, thats sad actually.
i meant total. 1% of total users which are Mac and can change HD
and 9% of total that are PC users and can change HD. i meant right.
it was made up. it is silly to compare anyway.

i have one of those too.. but i have nowhere to mount it

 

[byrgenar]

Re. Converter

I think rtrt is right. That looks like at molex to sata converter on the end of the molex. The ribbon is a just your everday IDE. Though what they are both doing together? I would guess you got the mac secondhand and the previous owner was using the 2nd bay.
You can get a IDE to SATA converter but because they are a little more complicated it might be cheaper to get a different drive.

Best of Luck

 

[harveypooka]

I think rtrt is right. That looks like at molex to sata converter on the end of the molex. The ribbon is a just your everday IDE. Though what they are both doing together? I would guess you got the mac secondhand and the previous owner was using the 2nd bay.
You can get a IDE to SATA converter but because they are a little more complicated it might be cheaper to get a different drive.

Best of Luck

No, brand new a few months ago.

I just put the drive in there as it's safer rather than sitting in a draw!

I guess I can get an IDE to SATA convertor? I already have the molex to sata.

 

[byrgenar]

heya.

Just to make sure (it looks like a converter from the photo but you will be able to tell better than I can). The end of the power (4 wires) is a inch wide (about 5mm thick) with a L shape to it?
Not that it matters to much I'm just curious why there is a converter in a new machine (unless you put it in of course).
Converters (they have dropped in price since I last checked) can be had for £8 from Ebuyer (UK). I should think Newegg would have something for less if your stateside.

Regards

 

[harveypooka]

heya.

Just to make sure (it looks like a converter from the photo but you will be able to tell better than I can). The end of the power (4 wires) is a inch wide (about 5mm thick) with a L shape to it?
Not that it matters to much I'm just curious why there is a converter in a new machine (unless you put it in of course).
Converters (they have dropped in price since I last checked) can be had for £8 from Ebuyer (UK). I should think Newegg would have something for less if your stateside.

Regards

I put the power adaptor in.

I'm UK, so I'll check eBuyer and CCL Online.

 

[harveypooka]

Haha, I laughed so hard.. It is interesting how people who started on PC and transitioned to MAC's knowledge varys so much compared to people who have only known MAC.

I wouldn't trade my PC years for anything, the ability to diagnose things, know how the computer works, installing programs, startup operations, etc...

I built my own PC, but I've never come across one of these cables before.

Simply experience.

 

[byrgenar]

Ok, solved. Only thing to mention is make sure you get a Sata to IDE and not a
IDE to Sata. Saves a whole load of mess.

Best of Luck