to connect a sata hard drive, do i need a separate power cable?

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Accepted Answer

SATA hard drives usually have a separate power (either older 4-pin power plugs or SATA power).  The short answer is: Yes.  The good news is that this power cable is usually attached/provided by the power supply and does not need to be bought when using most modern power supplies (built in the last 5 years).  This SATA II cable will connect directly from the drive to the motherboard, while the power will connect to the power supply.

If your power supply is older, there are converters from the 4-pin powers to (usually) 2 SATA power plugs.

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