Hi guys

I have just bought a "usb2.0 to ide" dongle to convert my ide hard drive into an external one. Unfortunately, the unit doesn't have a power supply. I know that HD needs a 12v power source. And I actually have a 12v adapter from my old CD player with output ( 12v ouput , 0.38 amp). however, I dont know how to wire the 2 lines (12v line and ground line) from the adapter to 4-pin molex connector. I really appreciate any help because my 20 bucks dongle will be useless without a power supply. Thanks in advance.

Not sure if that power adapter from the CD Player will do it, but anyways the yellow wire is +12V and the black wire next to it is the -12V(ground).

Edit: I think it also needs the +5V power on the red wire.

tk623: it definitely does, the drive control board logic requires it.

If you want to run a hard drive off an ATX PSU without a motherboard attached, simply wire pins PS_ON# and any one of the COMs together on the ATX connector (the PS_ON# is normally a thinner green wire and the COM wires are normally black wires) working from this pinout:



EDIT: I'll see if I can wire it together and upload a demonstration picture later today.

EDIT EDIT: you can probably also try picking an AT type power supply out of the trash, you'll find one in any 486 computer or earlier and you won't need to do any wiring. Pretty much any wattage power supply will be enough to run a single HDD.