help with laptop to desktop hard drive adapter

R

Rob

I just bought one of these and it connects to the laptop HD no problem but
now I still can't connect it to my desktop because it isn't missing that one
pin in the middle of them all so I can't hook it up to my current ata cable
unless I wanted to do something stupid and pull out the one pin.

I've never even seen a pata cable that doesn't have the middle pin filled
in.
Lets say for example that the row on the hard drive that is missing the pins
is the top row.

There are 21 pins on the top row and 22 pins on the bottom row.
On the adapter there are 20 pins on each row, and if you are looking at the
pins straight on, then there are 2 wires red and black on the right side
(red wire is top row, black wire is bottom row).

I don't want to pull the pin on the top row but is a PATA cable that has the
all the pin holes?
 
E

Ed Covney

I've never even seen a pata cable that doesn't have the middle pin filled
in.
True.

There are 21 pins on the top row and 22 pins on the bottom row.
Click to expand...

The IDE adaptor on the cable side should have 39 pins, pin
#20 is missing to allow correct alignment of the "80 pin" pata
cable.

The female connector which connects to your 2.5" drive has
44 pin holes - the 4 extra are use for power. I think most
adaptors do not plug #20, although I think the drives are
missing #20 - so make sure you place that on the drive
oriented correctly pin#1-pin#1. Also most drives have 44 +
4 pins - Don't use those 4 extras !!!!
On the adapter there are 20 pins on each row, and if you are looking at
the pins straight on, then there are 2 wires red and black on the right
side (red wire is top row, black wire is bottom row).
Click to expand...

The red wire is +5V, the black is ground. If there are a full
40 pins, I'd buy another adaptor - I think they're $6 at BestBuy.
I don't want to pull the pin on the top row but is a PATA cable that has
the all the pin holes?
Click to expand...

If you're confident the adaptor is good other than having
pin #20 ... you could pull the plug out of the cable (a very
sharp jeweler's screw driver can pry it out - yes I done this
on more than one occasion but not in conjunction with a
2.5inch drive adaptor).

Ed
 
P

Paul

Rob said:
I tried lining up the pins with the holes and I'm confused which pin to
pull. I took a couple of pics.

Can you check em out for me?
http://www.buggyonpurpose.com/random/lt_dt_adapter.jpg

http://www.buggyonpurpose.com/random/lt_hd.jpg

http://www.buggyonpurpose.com/random/lt_adapter.jpg
Click to expand...

In this article, Figure F has some pictures of cables. My Asus
motherboard boxes have cables like the one on the left. I have
some old boxes that retail Maxtor hard drives used to come in,
and the spare cable in there, looks like the cable on the right.
So there were some cables, like the retail Maxtor cable, that
didn't need to be drilled or have a plug pulled, to work for
what you're trying to do.

http://articles.techrepublic.com.com/5100-6255_11-5160538.html

If you're trying to figure out where pin 20 is on a connector,
you need a locator that tells you where pin 1 is. On a ribbon
cable, the red stripe is pin one on the cable. On drives, you might
find some kind of marking on the PCB, for pin 1. Such as a triangle
or a small "1" somewhere.

http://www.hitachigst.com/hdd/support/djsa/djsaeis.htm

Does that help ?

Paul
 
P

PaulMaudib

I just bought one of these and it connects to the laptop HD no problem but
now I still can't connect it to my desktop because it isn't missing that one
pin in the middle of them all so I can't hook it up to my current ata cable
unless I wanted to do something stupid and pull out the one pin.

I've never even seen a pata cable that doesn't have the middle pin filled
in.
Lets say for example that the row on the hard drive that is missing the pins
is the top row.

There are 21 pins on the top row and 22 pins on the bottom row.
On the adapter there are 20 pins on each row, and if you are looking at the
pins straight on, then there are 2 wires red and black on the right side
(red wire is top row, black wire is bottom row).

I don't want to pull the pin on the top row but is a PATA cable that has the
all the pin holes?
Click to expand...
Why ask HERE? This is a purely hardware related question that has
NOTHING to do with the OS.

Ask elsewhere
 
R

Rob

Hi Paul, yeah that's a great example and thanks for the hitachi link as
well.I think I'm going to check with Radio Shack to see if they have a 40
pin ribbon before I try pulling the pin.

Maudib, ast I checked this was windowsxp.HARDWARE and people come here all
the time for reasons outside driver support etc. Plus everyone else has been
more than helpful. Why not go trolling elsewhere?

Thanks for the comment on the photos, Ed. I owe it all to macro mode :)
 
P

PaulMaudib

Hi Paul, yeah that's a great example and thanks for the hitachi link as
well.I think I'm going to check with Radio Shack to see if they have a 40
pin ribbon before I try pulling the pin.

Maudib, ast I checked this was windowsxp.HARDWARE and people come here all
the time for reasons outside driver support etc. Plus everyone else has been
more than helpful. Why not go trolling elsewhere?

Thanks for the comment on the photos, Ed. I owe it all to macro mode :)
Click to expand...
Your comments don't change the fact that the OP does NOT have anything
to do with the WINDOWSXP part of that title you quote.
 
M

Michael W. Ryder

PaulMaudib said:
Your comments don't change the fact that the OP does NOT have anything
to do with the WINDOWSXP part of that title you quote.
Click to expand...

None of your posts have anything to do with Windows XP or Hardware. At
least the original post had something to do with Hardware that
interfaced with Windows XP which is far more than anything any of your
posts have been. If they had posted a query regarding ripping MP3s
under Linux I might agree with your complaint but they didn't.
Why don't you crawl back under your rock and stop posting your inane
drivel? If you don't like the posts in this group stop reading it.
 
R

Rob

Thanks for all the help guys. I just wanted to add one last thing. I had
always thought that you connect the ribbon, pink side closest to the power
cord (that's the only way you could when you have 39 pin cables since they
have the notch that wont let you reverse them). However when connecting the
40 pin ribbon to the adapter you have to flip one end of the ribbon
otherwise it wont detect the drive as being connected.
 

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