External hard drive.

[Anaconda666]

Found an old hard drive in the cupboard that I haven't used for years. Thought I would plug it in and see what happens, trouble is I can't remember if it needs a power lead, pretty sure it doesn't.
Any ideas?
Guess I should point out I have plugged it into the USB and nothing happened.

 

[qwakers]

if its a pc 3.5" hdd inside it will need a psu as usb cant provide enough power to spin it.

if its a laptop hdd it would work without a external source.

however it has a on off switch, so it 100% does need a psu.

 

[Popcorn]

You could always strip it down and remove the HD and put it in another case

 

[Seadog]

See the round socket that says 5v and 12v? ...

 

[Anaconda666]

I know zero about such technology, my Dad used to use it with his desk top PC many years back and I then used it with my laptop and reasonably sure I only used a USB cable.
Of course I could be completely wrong, the power socket did make me wonder though.
Should I be searching the house for a mains cable and adapter of some sort?
Did try a couple of different USB cables and ports on my laptop. I do remember it used to have a blue power light but there is no sign of that, broken maybe?

 

[Nomad]

What are you trying to connect it to (laptop, PC tower, or something else?)

Remove it from the case, looking at the labels and the switch being set to "Sata" I'd guess the disk inside has newer (less than 15 years old?) Sata connections not older IDE.
If you have a tower PC, see if it has any spare Sata cable inside and just plug your disk in - the PC might then see it as an external drive so you can see what's on it.

 

[Seadog]

If it's got a 12v input then it won't work fron USB alone, which is only 5v.
If it's a 2.5" drive then it will run from USB power.

 

[6ply]

Just because it has a power supply connection doesn't mean it has to be used. Some 2.5" drives had this as an option.

------

I found a few old HDD internal and external last week. Gave them to my kids and instructed them to get cracking with the screwdrivers.

Kept them quiet for an hour. Some concealed screws under the stickers

Fridge door is now plastered with extra strong magnets.

 

[julianf]

I have had that enclosure in the past. It requires power.

I would suggest pulling the drive, but the chance of any modern motherboard having the IDE connector still is slim (the case, iirc, is an IDE internally, not SATA, but I may be mistaken)

 

[julianf]

I was wrong - quick search implies both formats are supported -

Akasa integral ESATA Review

Akasa has a full range of external hard drive enclosures. The integral line-up includes every connection variant from LAN and USB 2.0 to eSATA. The Akasa integral eSATA combines USB 2.0 and eSATA. You can also use an IDE or SATA drive with the enclosure. This makes the integral eSATA a very...

www.techpowerup.com

So it may be that you can pull the drive and plug into a current motherboard or you may not. A quick visual would confirm.

 

[ukracer]

I have had that enclosure in the past. It requires power.

I would suggest pulling the drive, but the chance of any modern motherboard having the IDE connector still is slim (the case, iirc, is an IDE internally, not SATA, but I may be mistaken)

Esata on mine runs both.
But what are you needing from the drive? Finding out what's on it or using it to store stuff.
As I would not be wasting my time using it. It's likely to be extremely small capacity.

 

[ukracer]

Cheaper to buy a new drive...

 

[Anaconda666]

I had transferred some music onto it, would have saved me finding the CD so no big deal.
Had already copied the photos onto another hard drive so it's not that important.

 

[Pigeon_Droppings2]

I use a hard drive docking station...they're very handy things to have about as saves a lot of faffing about.