We need the exact model of your computer to see if the motherboard can support more than the factory-installed storage drive. A lot of these OEM systems come with proprietary motherboards that don't have the extra expansion slots or SATA ports available that "builder" motherboards do.

The Intel Core i5-14400F Desktop Processor has 10 cores (6 P-cores + 4 E-cores) so I'll search for an Acer Nitro that has this processor.

OK, I get the Nitro 50 Gaming Desktop - N50-656-UR15 that comes with 16 GB RAM so I'll use this as an example. Remember that this is just an example until we get your exact computer model.

I can't find a motherboard for exactly the N50-656-UR15 but another version of the computer has two SATA ports. Yet another comes with three. How many SATA ports does your motherboard have available?

It looks like there are two 6-pin power ports on the motherboard.

Edit:

The PWR1 and PWR2 connectors on the motherboard are not compatible with hard drive power.

Depending on your Acer Nitro's model, it may or may not have a RAID controller. It all depends on the motherboard's chipset, BIOS, and what drivers are available. If the motherboard had an additional PCIe slot you could get a PCIe RAID controller card too but I don't see one on the motherboard above. There are too many versions of "Acer Nitro" computers to speculate on this.

Example: Nitro N50-656 -- this model does have a RAID driver but others may not.

RST Utility

IRST (Intel® Rapid Storage Technology) Utility

Intel

2024/06/20

20.0.1011.0

37.21 MB

Intel® Rapid Storage Technology Driver Installation Software with Intel® Optane™ Memory (10th and 11th Gen Platforms)

The Intel® Rapid Storage Technology (Intel® RST) Driver (18.7.6.1010.3) supports the configuration and enabling of multiple features.

www.intel.com

Can you run this and post a link to your computer's information so we can proceed further?

Download Speccy | Find your computer specs, free!

Speccy - find the details of your computer's specs. Great for spotting issues or finding compatible upgrades. Download the latest version today.

www.ccleaner.com

You can also search Acer for your serial number and tell us the model, or let us know the number it so we can look it up.

Locating your Acer SNID or Serial Number - Acer Community

How do I find my serial number or SNID?Select your product type below for information on how to retrieve the serial number or SNID code of your system. If you have a Windows product that will power on, you can use the Acer System Information tool to retrieve the serial number or SNID.…

community.acer.com

 

Hi MPR, Thanks again for the help with the other issue I was having with deleting the first 6 characters in thousands of filenames! Now that I've made good progress with THAT file-rename project, I'm getting back to expanding the internal storage of the Acer Nitro N50-650 computer. The photo above does appear to be the motherboard that is in my computer. The 2 red SATA data connectors are labeled "SATA 3" in the silk-screening on the motherboard, but just above that silk-screened SATA 3 text, there's a small area of the motherboard with no components installed. I have a close-up photo of that here. My "area of concern" is that rectangle just above "SATA3" that has solder pads but no devices installed. Anything to be concerned about?

Do I use 2 separate cables, 1 for each HDD? (rather than a single SATA3 data cable with 2 HDD SATA3 connectors so both HDDs operate from a single SATA3 motherboard port? I'll be fine with the HDDs once I have power and data connections.

The 2 white connectors on the motherboard (you mentioned them earlier) near the SATA connectors, each with 6 pins appear) are for extra power needed for some add-on boards (most commonly graphics boards that need more power than the PCI socket can deliver) in expansion slots. Higher-performance graphic cards apparently need 1 or 2 of those extra power connections to get enough power to operate properly.

You are correct, this motherboard has just 1 PCI expansion slot. For this model N50-650, that slot is occupied by the Nvidia GTX 1650 Graphics card. The SSD is mounted parallel to the motherboard, almost touching the top of the motherboard (like a daughter-board that is laying flat instead of standing vertical).

Is my thinking (below) correct about not needed a higher wattage power supply in order to add 2 HDDS?

This computer came with a 500 watt power supply. Here are the components the computer has with power consumption I could find for some of the components of the computer:
-The motherboard, obviously
-The SSD
-The GTX-1650 graphics board (4K, HDR support up to 60 Hz), onboard cooling fan, Nvidia says 75 watts power consumption during high-performance use. This specific Nvidia GTS-1650 board does not require extra Power from one of the supplemental *********** connections on the motherboard. It gets sufficient power from the PCI bus.
-CPU -- Intel i5 13th generation, 10 core processor, power requirements indicated as 65 to 148 watts for the processor only.
-32 GB RAM (2 x 16 GB UDIMM DDR4 3200 speed CL22 1.2 volt, 288 pins), quoted at 5 watts per UDIMM, 10 watts total
-6 USB ports
-Back panel cooling fan
-CPU cooling fan
- Several color-changable LEDs inside and on front panel

Power Consumption for the HDDs I will add is quoted as either 9 watts each or up to 10.3 watts each using 5v/500mA and 12v/650mA from the label on the HDD. If 12.5 watts each is assumed, then 25 watts for the BOTH added HDDs combined. So my estimate is about 250 watts for the computer with 32 GB of RAM... and another 25 watts for the new HDDs. Seems like there should be plenty of power in the original power supply. Unless I missed something. Did I miss anything?

I can forego the RAID capability if the PC as-is won't support it. I'll just use a basic hard disk backup software program with a "sync" option and have that run daily or weekly to keep the 2 copies of the data the same on both hard disks. This stuff isn't hypercritical to have 100% perfect backup 100% of the time.

There is an mildly annoying Acer-ism that makes adding HDDs 1 step more complicated than other computers. The power supply has an extra connector to power HDDs, but it is not the SATA 3 power connector. It is a 6-pin (2-rows of 3) locking wire connector. We used to call those connectors Amp or Amperex connectors, might called ATX these days. So I need to source an adapter that has (the correct) 6 round male pins on the power supply end and the flat SATA 3 power connector on the end that connectes to the HDD. I have some SATA 3 data cables. But do not have the adapter cable needed to power the SATA3 HDDs. Apparently Acer is not alone in doing this non-standard power supply connector thing. Dell and some other brands use similar connectors that require adapters. Since I'm adding 2 HDDs, I'll need a "double-headed" HDD SATA3 power connector so both HDDs can be powered. That troubles me a little, since early searching has not revealed a cable with dual SATA3 power connectors and 6 pin (2 rows) male connector.

Does any of this sound like I'm on the wrong track? Or maybe there's a "better track" I don't know about?

 

You use separate Data cables from the drives to the SATA ports on the motherboard, You also use separate power plugs from the PSU.
There should be enough SATA power plugs from your PSU, if you only have white Molex power plugs left you can get a Molex to SATA power plug adapter.
Pictured, standard SATA power plug on the left and a Molex power plug on the right.

 

Follow SF's advice above.

You won't need a bigger PSU to power two HDDs, they only use about 10 Watts each. The OEM planned for this if it gave you two additional SATA ports, drive power connectors, and drive bays.

The video card needs no additional power because the PCIe slow provides 75 W of power itself.

Acer Nitro N50-650

You can configure your HDDs in a RAID array if you want to.

IRST (Intel® Rapid Storage Technology) Driver

Intel

2024/09/30

20.0.0.1037

https://www.acer.com/us-en/support/product-support/Nitro_N50-650

How to Add a Second Drive to the System and Create a RAID 1 Volume...

Steps to convert an existing system OS disk to a RAID 1 volume without losing data

www.intel.com

 

But there are none of those single-row connectors with 4 wires in this computer.

Here is an image of the 2 spare connections on the internal power supply... 1 connector with 2 pins (presumably for an indicator LED or something), and 1 with 6 pins organized in 2 rows of 3 pins. There is just ONE of those 6-pin extra connectors inside the computer... so it will have to suffice for this, I guess. Looks like the male pins that go into this connector need to be "square pins" rather than round.

In this second photo, the 2 off-white connectors on the motherboard are right next to the SATA3 connectors. But the documentation says those are for extra power to circuit boards using PCI slots when the PCI socket can't deliver enough power. There is no mention about using them as power for hard disks, though I don't see why they couldn't be used if somebody knew what voltages were present at those 6 (square) pins in each of those power connectors. The Labels for those white connectors on the motherboard are PWR1 and PWR2. Can those motherboard connectors be used to power the new HDDs? I hadn't thought of using them, but now that you mention it... is a 6-pin single-row connector/cables for connecting those 2 white sockets to HDDs a product that is made? Or do I need to focus on a single cable to connect to the unused BLACK connector from the power supply with 2 SATA power connectors on the the other end of the cable?

RE. the amount of power from the PCI slot... 75 watts is enough for the graphics board I am using. But the RTX 5070 board needs 250 watts so PCI power isn't enough. Hence the extra power connectors on the motherboard. After reading those connectors were for demanding PCI boards, the idea of using them to power HDDs flew out of my head... but power is power. If somebody makes a 6-inline connector that fits the motherboard sockets (with male pins) and has a SATA3 power connector on the other end, I'd be good with that as a solution since I won't likely use those power connectors for a graphics board.

 

@HavFun

Good catch.

"You must use the dedicated SATA power cables from the power supply, which may require a specific adapter if no spares are available. The PWR1 and PWR2 connectors on the motherboard are not compatible with hard drive power."

Let me do some more looking into this.

 

• PCIe power provides +12 V and ground only.
• SATA power requires +12 V, +5 V, and +3.3 V (although most 3.3 V lines are unused by drives, +5 V is essential for HDDs/SSDs).

So how does Acer expect to power drives if it provides SATA ports for data and drive bays?

We are seeing why its a nightmare to upgrade OEM computers.

Still working on this.

 

OK, wait a minute. This N50-650 motherboard diagram clearly states the #7 ports are SATA power ports. This makes sense as why else would they be right next to the SATA data ports?

Can you send a link to the documentation that said they were PWR1 and PWR2 and not SATA_PWR1 and SATA_PWR2?

Here is the cable needed. One will suffice for two HDDs.

https://www.newegg.com/p/1W7-00R6-02364

 

Can you send a link to the documentation that said they were PWR1 and PWR2 and not SATA_PWR1 and SATA_PWR2?

Here is the cable needed. One will suffice for two HDDs.

https://www.newegg.com/p/1W7-00R6-02364

Newegg also carries these cables... 1 power supply cable end and 2 SATA power connectors. But the cable to connect to the power supply SEEMS to be the wrong gender... same end (female pins inside the plastic connector housing). But I'm not sure if I'm not looking at the connectors right or not... you'd think they would all be the RIGHT gender on the power supply end. Which is making me think that I may have to look more closely at the connector inside the computer.

 

What is the Make and Model # of your PSU?
If it is a modular PSU it should have extra cables.
If not, you would be better off getting a SATA power splitter adapter and splitting the power cable

 

@HavFun -- you can't use a PCIe power cable to power a hard drive because it does not provide 5 volts. Look at my posts above.

@spunk.funk -- This is the Acer 500 W OEM PSU for the N50-600 series. It's not an standard "buider" PSU but a proprietary unit. It has two connectors that plug into the motherboard and one additional PCIe connector for use with a video card that requires external power and that's it.

You might notice that there are only 12 V and GND wires (plus one sense wire). This is because The Acer N50-650 motherboard supplies 5V and 3.3V by using Voltage Regulator Modules (VRMs) to convert the 12V power it receives from the power supply unit (PSU). The system is built around the ATX12VO (12V Only) standard, which outsources voltage conversion to the motherboard itself rather than the PSU.

https://data2.manualslib.com/pdf7/367/36607/3660614-acer/n50650.pdf?72131fd4b631776522cd2a8eef81965b

 

@spunk.funk -- This is the Acer 500 W OEM PSU for the N50-600 series. It's not an standard "buider" PSU but a proprietary unit. It has two connectors that plug into the motherboard and one additional PCIe connector for use with a video card that requires external power and that's it.

View attachment 342424

You might notice that there are only 12 V and GND wires (plus one sense wire). This is because The Acer N50-650 motherboard supplies 5V and 3.3V by using Voltage Regulator Modules (VRMs) to convert the 12V power it receives from the power supply unit (PSU). The system is built around the ATX12VO (12V Only) standard, which outsources voltage conversion to the motherboard itself rather than the PSU.

That photo, immediately above, does look like my PSU. The cable with the 2 black connectors is connected to the motherboard in 2 places. The other cable with 6 wires does not have a white connector though, it has another black connector like the other 2 connectors for the motherboard. And that cable with the single 6-pin connector is folded-up, wire-tied in a bundle and is not connected to anything. It's just stuffed in the gap between the PSU and the empty HDD bays.

Tomorrow I will get my voltmeter out and see what I have on the UNUSED power connector coming from the PSU. And I will also check the power available at both white 6-pin connectors on the motherboard to see if 5 volts is there. If there is no 3.3 volts on the white motherboard power socket, can it still be used to power HDDs? It doesn't look like the new drives need 3.3 volts... the power spec on the HDD label only lists 5v/500 mA and 12v 650 mA as power requirements. The photo I took of the black connector with 6 square female pins... I did not unplug that connector from anything to take the photo... All I did was unfold it a little bit so I could get a picture of it.

I was going to get inside the case with anti-static dust brush and anti-static crevice tool for my vacuum cleaner. I will measure the voltages and find which pins are ground with my meter. If the motherboard connector does have 5 and 12 volts... that cable with the 6 pin (1 row of pins) connector and 2 SATA power connectors looks like a quick and easy solution.

I never would have thought that the PSU might be 12-volts only. That's quite a revelation. I can't see a label on the PSU anywhere. You'd think there would be an obvious label where you could READ it if that PSU really is 12-volts-only. I can only see 3 sides of the PSU and there's no label visible, so the PSU label must be on one of the sides I cannot see unless the PSU is removed.

 

This is the solution.

You need this to plug into one of the white 6-pin power ports. It will likely suffice for two drives.

https://www.newegg.com/p/1W7-00R6-02364

You will also need these, one for each of the drives.

https://www.newegg.com/hannord-11-15-sata-cable-black/p/0ZF-012B-00004

 

This is the solution.

You need this to plug into one of the white 6-pin power ports. It will likely suffice for two drives.

https://www.newegg.com/p/1W7-00R6-02364

I thought that cable WAS NOT the solution because the white connector is "supplemental PCI power" and does not provide 5 volts for HDDs?

Is that NOT the case?

 

@HavFun -- The reason you are confused is that everyone is. Acer doesn't publish much info on their devices because they want you to return them to an "authorized service center" and pay them to upgrade their computers. Don't get too caught up in the process here, just concentrate on the final result.

There is no pinout published for these *********** connectors. However, I can figure it out using wire codes and a SATA power pinout.

Oh come on! Guess what was censored? w h i t e p o w e r connectors.

 

Just making sure this hasn't gotten lost, I'm going to re-post it. These are the cables you buy and how you connect them.

https://www.newegg.com/p/1W7-00R6-02364

https://www.newegg.com/hannord-11-15-sata-cable-black/p/0ZF-012B-00004

 

Gobsmacked... you'd think data would need/have more contacts and would be a larger/wider connector than the power connector. I always assumed the wide edge connector was for data, not the narrower bit. Glad I asked, because I might not have ordered the right thing. That should have all the variables covered... I'll confirm the voltages on the motherboard connectors tomorrow, though there's little doubt they will be as you described. Thanks again for digging up the hidden dirt that would have taken me a bunch of tries and time and orders of cables that wouldn't have worked!

 

Gobsmacked... you'd think data would need/have more contacts...

That's the "S" in SATA (Serial Advanced Technology Attachment)

A SATA data connector has seven horizontal pins, consisting of three ground pins and four data pins. Not a lot of transmission lines but a waveform transmitting at a very high frequency through them. SATA 1.0 operated at 1.5 gigahertz frequency but by the time SATA 3.0 rolled around this was now 6 Ghz for a transfer rate of 6 Gb/s (theoretically 750 MB/s but really 580 MB/sec due to overhead from encoding, protocol management, and hardware limitations).

 

And replying to myself... I should have enlarged the photo you posted where you wrote right next to the cables... data and power.

 

Seems like a lot of work around here but the PSU looks like a standard size desktop Psu why not just replace it with a quality Psu as we all know the Psu in this unit is crap anyway.

 

why not just replace it with a quality Psu

The reason a standard ATX PSU can't be used with this motherboard is that it's based on an entirely different power platform. The Acer N50-600 series uses an ATX12VO (12V Only) power standard motherboard and an ATX12VO PSU. However, it doesn't even completely adhere to this standard but adds its own proprietary tweaks.

The 12VO (12 Volt Only) power standard is an Intel-developed PC power supply specification that shifts the generation of 3.3V and 5V power from the power supply unit (PSU) to the motherboard, allowing the PSU to output solely 12V power for increased efficiency and reduced cable clutter.

Introduction - 2.11 - ID:613768 | ATX12VO (12V Only) Desktop Power Supply

edc.intel.com

Some manufacturers have dabbled with the 12VO power platform to reduce manufacturing costs. It's not being adopted as fast as Intel had hoped though.

Acer didn't even fully-adopted the 12VO standard either but instead used proprietary connectors and pinouts like many OEMs do so that purchasers would have to buy PSUs from them instead of just swapping in one of the few ATX12VO PSUs bought on the open market.

When I was researching the pinouts, I ran across someone who took the Acer 500W PSU apart. I noticed the wiring was not actually even 12VO standard. The ATX12VO standard specifies a 10-pin power connector but Acer instead uses a 6-pin connector with a proprietary pinout and gets by with this by limiting the current the PSU can produce. Therefore, even with an adapter, you are likely to fry your motherboard if you install more than a 500 W PSU.

This is why I don't like OEMs. You learn all the foibles of one model then they change everything with the next model. And that's just within a single company. There may be similarity at all between an Acer's port and cable setup and a Dell's. This is why I recommend building a system using standard ATX components versus purchasing a proprietary OEM computer. That said, if you are on a limited budget and just want something that you can turn on and use right now then you can't beat an OEM.

 

There is nothing wrong with the power supply so there is no reason to replace it. If the connectors on the motherboard provide 12 and 5 volts, the new drives will install fine without a new power supply. There is no indication of any kind that the factory PSU is "crap" in any way. It's just not a normal "builder" power supply. That doesn't make it crap, it makes it perfectly useful if you know what's going on. And thanks to the help here, I know what's going on now... and will confirm that when I measure the voltages on the motherboard. I'm not inclined to make more E-waste to dispose of the PSU just because you assume the PSU is crap when there is no indication there is ANYTHING wrong with the PSU at all. It's just not a conventional PSU. That doesn't make it a crap PSU, it just means I had to figure out what was different--and thanks to the help here, I did.

If the Motherboard in this computer is designed to CREATE the 5 volts the HDDs need, the "normal" PSU will apply a voltage to the motherboard (5 volts) that the motherboard is not expecting. So I'd probably have to replace the motherboard also in order to replace the PSU. So NO. Everything is working. The performance is fine. I have 3 two-drive NAS units that were retired for not being able to stream 4K UHD video and multi-channel audio at high enough rates to avoid stuttering. Since the content going on these drives is for reading and is not video, streaming speed is not a requirement. I'll just put the drives in one of the disused NAS units and be done with it. But I'm going to have a go at putting them in the PC first and letting the "crappy" power supply run them with no problem just to thumb my nose at the "just change it out" people. Everything about this computer is FINE... I just wish they had documented this difference in the user manual or one of the other documents instead of not mentioning it at all and by not making the power supply label readable when you remove the access panel.

In fact, I have a 4 year old computer I was given after some soda spilled into the top mounted vent holes (now THAT computer case was a TERRIBLE design. The top of computers shouldn't be open to possible spills like this one had. I have confirmed that the power supply in that chassis is still operational and never got anything inside. Ditto for the video board, the SSD, the RAM, the small network/bluetooth/Wi-Fi board. All reusable. The motherboard appears to be the only affected item and it is not burned anywhere. But the motherboard has an AMD processor that's not supported in Windows 11, even with workarounds (at least not so far) so that motherboard is likely to not get my attention to give it an isopropyl alcohol bath and a week to "dry out" after because it will still have to run Win10 (or Linux) for the forseeable future. So if I WANT to change the power supply, I can put the one from the other computer into the Acer, but the Acer power supply is FINE, and I doubt the Acer motherboard will be good with a conventional 5/12 computer PSU.

 

@HavFun

"if I WANT to change the power supply, I can put the one from the other computer into the Acer"

No you can't -- see Post #26. Well, you could, if you used an adapter, changed the pinout to match what the Acer was expecting if the manufacturer of the adapter didn't already do this, and determined the maximum current the motherboard was capable of handling and selected a PSU that stayed under that current so as to not "fry" the motherboard, but why bother? I've put standard ATX PSUs into Dells by determining pinouts and rewiring cables but I've also got a degree in electronics.

"The top of computers shouldn't be open to possible spills"

The tops of cases are open to spills because they are open to air. Hot air rises and the most efficient way to get rid of it is to vent it out the top of a case. Radiators for liquid cooling CPUs also are designed to vent out the top of a case.

"it will still have to run Win10 (or Linux) for the foreseeable future"

You should get the extra year of extended service for your In 10 computer. It's free if you sync it to a Microsoft Account. As for Linux, it's great when it works but it's a lot less supported than Windows so if it doesn't work you might be unable to get it to work, unless you are an expert at coding Linux drivers or can convince those who are that your specific problem is worth fixing. In my opinion. Linux is "worth a try" if the only other option is to never take an older computer online.

 

I think the answer to Acer quality is quite obvious.But then consider the company. By and large computer companies merge so that one can learn how to produce something "the other guy makes" for less money. Hence Acer picks up Gateway (at the rock bottom end of what once was a great manufacturer) and EMachine, known for low end solutions to any computer issue. If the primary reason for this Psu is as originally stated "to save the mfgr money", then there should also be no surprise about the outcome of this low end oem computer and your project. A simple call to Acer tech support, something I made the mistake of doing many years ago produced one of the most "unfriendly" customer service calls I have ever experienced so pardon me if I called their "Psu" "crap". Maybe better stated as "low end" but a decent desktop allows install of extra internal hard drives quite easily without this many posts, and we all know that.

 

Whatever. You do you. Except you might consider not telling people the choices they make are crap because of your personal biases. I was an imaging systems engineer for 35 years (retired to professional reviewing of home theater gear, and retired from that a year ago). I was in development/design of new systems and support of current systems. I was looking for the least expensive computer with support for 4K/UHD video with HDR at 60 Hz and lower, minimal RAM, an SSD boot drive, no other internal drives, fast Ethernet, and a "decent" processor rather than top of the line processor. This ENTIRE computer was US$499 2-years ago. I don't care if the PSU isn't "standard". You could pick from 7 versions of this computer with different internal options. This is the "starting at $499" low-ball model. It's exactly what I was shopping for.

I have 29 TB of NAS storage in 5 RAID pairs of HDDs. I had no interest in putting HDDs inside the computer when I bought it. But today, I'm running out of physical space for another NAS and decided that putting 6TB drives inside the computer may be the easiest solution. I don't CARE that it took some questions that resulted in this thread that has unraveled what is going on inside this computer. I actually LIKE doing this sort of thing every now and then since I've retired from the engineering job. When stuff like this comes up, I get to learn how the design of computer motherboards and associated components is evolving over time. I think it is INTERESTING AS HELL that simplifying the PSU but making the motherboard more complex (with producing 5 volts on the motherboard) might be CHEAPER than using an off-the-shelf 5/12v PSU.

No computer company will pay smart people with professional communication skills enough to do quality tech support, so you get the bottom of the barrel pretty much every place you call for support for computers and other consumer-level tech. Consumers want low prices and reducing the cost of post-sale support is one of the ways you can trim cost from a computer without trimming content/features. It's a fact of life in business since needing post-sale support has existed.

I don't need a lecture from an axe grinder about how bad a computer maker is. I know exactly what I bought and it was the least money for the most "stuff", precisely my shopping criteria. I had/have ZERO expectations that Acer would provide ANY level of tech support better than what I can find online. Consumers want cheap prices and tech support is one of the first budgets that gets cut in the race-to-the-bottom for cheapest computer prices. I couldn't care less that Acer support is terrible. From my perspective, every tech support operation for consumer products is terrible--because as much as people complain about bad tech support, they complain about higher prices MORE.

 

the least money for the most "stuff"

OEM computers aren't "bad" per se, they are just built to a price point and you get what you pay for. OEM PSUs are built to power the system as delivered for the expected life of the computer. Are they top-end units with 12-year warranties? No. Are they adequate for their intended purpose? Yes. Over the years, I've had to replace several OEM PSUs but this was always after the warranty had expired. Most last five to seven years. Some last much, much longer than expected. I've got a Dell that I bought my mother in the '90s. I still occasionally use it to play around with Linux. It works fine.

 

I suppose you cold say I am biased but if that is true the only reason would be I have been building and selling pcs for 20 years in an area that is very price conscious so if I can build better quality desktops at the same prices as oem then I believe oems could certainly do a better job than I can if they cared to is all and what I said is based on my experience
in working on Acer units, not my personal taste! Do I think I am the "be all and end all" reviewer no of course not just a system builder is all. And some oems do just that but of course they are higher priced.

 

@HavFun

Acer part number 50.VMWD3.005 Acer 50.VMWD3.005 notebook spare part Cable - Genuine Acer VX6640G Cable Power SATA 6P(IDC)+15P(F)(90D)*2 L380+70MM P-HJX-02029 LEAD-FREE.HJX

Acer wants $30 for the cable and I'd say that there is a good chance that it's made in the same Chinese factory as the rest of them.

This is such a small niche market that you are likely not going to find a lot of sources. Walmart sells them through a China source with no reviews as well.

http://goto.walmart.com/c/404739/56...-610-Disco-Duro-ATX-PSU/15720915969?wmlspartner=wlpa&selectedSellerId=101679163

 

Amazon does have a leash on their resellers but Newegg is "the Wild Wild West" with theirs so I would not buy from any Newegg resellers, I have been burned way too many times.

 

MPR,
I looked at Alibaba.com because it came up in a Google shopping search... they sell the cables for 66 cents each with a minimum order of 2. The Alibaba.com version of the cable has just 4 power wires coming out of the white mini-6-pin connector -- no pins in the outer two pin positions. The other cables have jumper wires from both outer pin positions to one of the inner 4 pins on that small white connector. The outer pins are just redundant 12 and 5 volt pins on your pinout. I will get 2 cables from Alibaba.com so can use one cable for each HDD, halving the current, though the 10-11 watts each HDD draws (less on the 5 and 12 lines separately) shouldn't be a challenge for a single-pin connection. One of the Alibaba sellers is in Hong Kong... and has a decent seller rating--if you can trust ANY seller ratings on Alibaba or Aliexpress. If the cables never show up, there's not much lost! Amazon sellers want over $12 for 1 cable and they still ship from China. I've always had the mindset to (imagine "all caps engaged") never buy anything from Alibaba or Aliexpress. But I'm leaning towards breaking that "rule" for this cable. They sell crap like a "power conditioner" that plugs into a wall outlet... it's around $1 and is about the size of a pack of cigarettes. The only thing inside is a tiny circuit board to drive the green LED that lights up when you plug it in... nothing else. Aliexpress has a "button" something like "Ships From" that defaults to "All" which means 99.9% of everything ships from China. But there is another button with the US flag next to it. When I click that, no Ali sellers have the Acer cable in the US.




That's good to know. The seller on Newegg didn't even have a very good rating... "3.4" out of 5 as I recall, but his stuff "ships from New Jersey". And that guy was "out of stock" on this cable anyway. What's worse than the Wild West ? Because that's where Alibaba and Aliexpress live. But I may try them anyway because even if I get nothing, I've lost almost nothing. I'm not sure I want my credit card number in China though. Wonder if they take Venmo? I have a little money sitting in a Venmo account I'd be willing to experiment with. Hell, wouldn't the credit card fees for a $1.32 transaction cost more than $1.32 for a small business? I would actually feel better about ordering the cables from one of the Ali places if they were $8 or something so the seller might actually want to pack and ship them. Who does anything for $1.32 in 2025?

 

@HavFun

The outer wires are not redundant and are needed for the adapter to power two hard drives without pulling too many amps from a single 12V or 5V pin. Don't buy the Alibaba adapter.

In fact, I don't even see the adapter you need on Alibiba. A Molex 4-pin to SATA adapter will not work. Your motherboard has proprietary 6-pin storage drive power headers.

This will not work.

Molex To Sata Power Adapter 10 Inch Molex Ide 4pin To Dual 15pin Sata Power Splitter Cable For Hdd Ssd - Buy Molex To Sata Power lp4 To Sata Power Cable sata Power Splitter low Voltage Molex To Sata Adapter copper Conductor Sata Cable pvc Insulation Sata Splitter insulated Power Adapter Cable pe Insulation Sata Cable low Voltage Power Adapter computer Power Splitter pvc Insulated Cable insulated Sata Cable customized Size Cable Product on Alibaba.com

Molex To Sata Power Adapter 10 Inch Molex Ide 4pin To Dual 15pin Sata Power Splitter Cable For Hdd Ssd - Buy Molex To Sata Power lp4 To Sata Power Cable sata Power Splitter low Voltage Molex To Sata Adapter copper Conductor Sata Cable pvc Insulation Sata Splitter insulated Power Adapter Cable pe...

www.alibaba.com

 

@HavFun Can you provide a link to the cable on Alibaba that you think is the right one?

 

The cable at this link (below) appears to be the correct cable on Alibaba. I have to order 2 of these and there are 2 power connectors on the motherboard, So I could connect both cables to separate connectors on the motherboard and only connect 1 HDD to each cable. That makes each cable's load just 1 HDD instead of 2 HDD powered by 1 cable. This cable has a 6-pin single-row white connector to mate with the 6-pin connectors on the motherboard, but only the center 4 pins have wires connected to them.

New 6pin To Dual Sata 15pin Power Cable For Acer Motherboard Hard Disk Power Cord - Buy Sata Power Cable Jst,6pin To Sata Cable For Acer Mainboard,Sata Power Extension Cable Sata 15pin To 6pin Product on Alibaba.com

New 6pin To Dual Sata 15pin Power Cable For Acer Motherboard Hard Disk Power Cord - Buy Sata Power Cable Jst,6pin To Sata Cable For Acer Mainboard,Sata Power Extension Cable Sata 15pin To 6pin Product on Alibaba.com

www.alibaba.com

I used the photo that shows the white 6-pin connector the best and darkened the area around the 6-pin connector so it's a little easier to see there are blank holes for pins on each end with 4 wires coming from the center 4 pins. That is not a 4-pin Molex connector. It is the 6-pin connector that mates with the Acer motherboard connector... the product description/name says for Acer Mainboard too.

If I do go this way, I would probably just cut the wires coming out of the SATA power connector in the middle of the cable to remove the second/end-of-cable SATA power connector completely. I would insulate the cut wire ends if it looks like there is any way anything could short across any exposed/cut copper on the side of the SATA power connector.

 

Looks like it's keyed properly. If you are going to be purchasing two anyway I'd use one per HDD and not run two HDDs off of one cable. The wires of the cable look robust enough, although this might just be insulation. However, we don't know the maximum current allowed at each pin of the Acer power header. There's a reason why Acer used a 6-pin and not a 4-pin header. The reason that PCIe connectors for video cards have gone from four to six to eight, and now sixteen pins is that they were melting pins by running too much power through a single one.

In fact, the highest-end video cards are melting even 16-pin connectors.

Don't cut a cable, just dont use both SATA connectors. I'll try to see if I can find the power limit per pin of the Acer 6-pin power connector but since this is proprietary information I might not be able to.