Do you miss Molex on HDD's?

[Funkstar]

Molex connectors are are complete pain when your drives are in external cases. When you have about an ince and a half of wire between the drive and the case it can become really dangerous to remove them. I've taken a significant amount of knuckle flesh off over the years on these.

True enough SATA and SATA power should have had clips from day one, but in the long run i prefer the new ones.

[Supershanks]

molex connecters are fine, it's the sata ones's that are crap.

I got an etasis 850W psu in january, 2 sata plugs are broken, the thin piece of plastic having broken off on both. I've been building & using pc's for about 25 years & thiis is the 1st time it's happened. Don't know if etasis have used some crappy plastic

I got it from scan but the manufacture doesn't include the plugs in the warranty. Scan gave me some molex/sata adapters. The only sata connecters i'm using now are the adapters that have a pair of sata plugs & a molex. At least if they break it's no loss.

[TooNice]

I can't say that I miss the molex much. Given the choice of both, I would go SATA power cable. I've not broken them either.

[manwithnoname]

I've got 2 SATA drive so I've not had much experience with.

I do remember fighting for about 10 minutes to extra a molex from a HD, managed to remove it but in the struggle did not realise I had wrapped my foot around the network cable connected to the PC... took a step tripped on the cable ... worst thing was it was that coaxial BNC stuff 'took out' 3 PC that were connected on the loop - all 3 hit the floor

[this_is_gav]

... see, molex are the root cause of all problems tech related. I shouldn't laugh, I really shouldn't, but I can't help but chuckle to myself. Sorry. I believe my corner in hell has been booked.

[manwithnoname]

... see, molex are the root cause of all problems tech related. I shouldn't laugh, I really shouldn't, but I can't help but chuckle to myself. Sorry. I believe my corner in hell has been booked.

... see you in hell. It had a happy ending we got new P120's to replace the DX2 66's that my boss thought were fried by a power surge – thunder storm.

Btw the coaxial still worked, must have been forged in hell ...

[wombar]

Gotta say I prefer the new SATA connectors. I've not managed to break one yet, but I certainly don't think they're perfect.

However, given the choice I would take SATA over molex any day of the week. I've had a few real tight molex connectors over the years that have claimed their pound of flesh when they eventually gave up.

Why they can't just put a little catch on the power connectors that disengages easily I don't know.

[Supershanks]

The only advantage that sata connections have is they provide a ready terminal to check your 3.3v rail with a multimeter, as they have the orange 3.3v power lead that molex don't (only have 12v & 5v)

now not many people know that

[[GSV]Trig]

You can get SATA power with a clip on it, but not a clip and 90o which is what it needs imho...

[OV3RCLOCK3R]

I prefer the new sata, havent broken a single one yet

[daza]

I prefer the molex with quick release tabs on them as they come off rather easy just squeeze the tab and bobs your uncle, the only thing I dont like about the sata power connectors is they feel rather fragile when your putting them in and out.

[arthurleung]

The only advantage that sata connections have is they provide a ready terminal to check your 3.3v rail with a multimeter, as they have the orange 3.3v power lead that molex don't (only have 12v & 5v)

now not many people know that

Thing is if you got 12 HDDs in your case no PSU will give you that much SATA plugs, so the 3.3V thing gets quite pointless.

I used to connect / disconnect stuff while computer is on back in the IDE days, I couldn't do it now because the SATA and power cables keep dropping off.

I almost RMA-ed my perfectly fine 500G HDD because of a broken SATA power splitter :S

Molex cables are awesome because they're a tight fit and very flexible. In contrast the SATA power cable I can't easily bend it without the connector poping off.

I wonder why no case manufacturer make cases with SATA backplane so that there is no more cable mess, you just plug 1 or 2 SATA power cables and it will share the power with 3~8 HDDs. That way we can all use the 3.3V from the PSU while we don't need loads of Molex->3Molex->6SATA splitters which is the source of cable mess.

I can only see SATA backplanes with hotswap, but I DON'T WANT hotswap.

IMO drive rail design (Xaser III, Lian-Li V1000) will work great with backplane installed

EDIT: Found something like this
http://www.cpuser.com.tw/SATA-Backplane.htm
Only if they make one that takes SATA power, and multi-drive configuration.

[Supershanks]

I prefer the new sata, havent broken a single one yet

don't worry there's time 850W Etasis ET850 - Weak Sata plugs??

[dannyboy83]

Can you not get SATA cables that clip in? Is that just hte data cables rather than SATA power cables?

They really shoulda been designed with a spring-catch type thing.

[Lee H]

When you have about an inch and a half of wire between the drive and the case it can become really dangerous to remove them.

Oh yes... been there, done that - got more scars on my fingers than a chef who's crap at chopping veggies (the food... not the people)

Worst ones are when you pull the molex and you hit the USB header pins on the motherboard which embed very well into your fingers.

[Zak33]

I used to connect / disconnect stuff while computer is on back in the IDE days, I couldn't do it now because the SATA and power cables keep dropping off.

Zakkly......thats what happens a lot...the power just falls off when I move my case!!