Laptop HD Question

[Thanatos.]

So the other day i got a Vaio VGN-BX560B Laptop that has a Broken screen ,keyboard, and Sata HD (was dropped) from work for free. Other than the damage i mentioned above its in complete working order. Repairing the components to make it a fully working laptop would cost at least $250, So im thinking about doing something like this with it. I want to keep things cheap and happened to notice that the SATA drive for the laptop uses the exact same connectors as a Desktop Sata HD. So my question is this does the laptop Sata power connector provide enough juice to power a 7200 rpm destop sata HD?

 

[Waldorf]

Probably not. Laptop drives typically run on 5v and full size drives typically run on 12v.

 

[silent-circuit]

Don't believe so. What I would do is pick up a used 60GB or smaller SATA laptop HDD to run internal and get a full sized drive in an external enclosure if you need more space. You could even mount the guts of a USB or FireWire enclosure inside your new casing for the machine and avoid another box that way.

That said, I've never tried this, or taken a multimeter to the connector in a laptop, so someone more knowledgeable than myself in this area may come along and say "yep it'll be fine". The issue I see is, even if you could use a full size drive, where would you put it? Would you be removing the laptop's motherboard from the casing? I suppose that would simplify things, but you could still easily run in to clearance issues.

If you're set on the mod, I'd say get it apart and see if it works, simple as that.

 

[Thanatos.]

I had planned on simply trying it out but in order for it to work i might need to buy a SATA female to male plug so i figured id ask before i tried anything.