Per the A+ book "Guide to Managing and Maintaining your PC," it says to know for sure what type of cable you're dealing with, trace the cable from its source to its destination.
Generally, a power cable will be coming from the power supply unit, while data cables don't. That is the big block in one of the corners of the case, with the power switch and AC in on the outside of the case. Also, power cables' sockets will almost always be either rectangular, split into an even number of equally sized squares, or rectangular with one rounded corner and 4 metal pins, whereas data cables come in all shapes and sizes.
The easiest way is to check if the cable is coming from the power supply. Most of the time power wires are black (ground), red (5v), yellow (12v), and sometimes orange (3.3 v). Power cables are usually large gauge wires.
Data cables are usually flexes or fine gauge wires. Data are grey or black ribbon cables, for PATA. Small flat single color for SATA (commonly red or black).
Easy, just look at it!
Power cables almost exclusively have individually stranded multi-colored wires. Some may be sleeved for cable management. They end typically with a white 'molex' connector, usually 4-pin square or 4-pin long.
Data cables come in two forms: IDE Ribbon Cables, large flat grey cables, FDD ribbon cables, and SATA cables, red or orange 'small' cables that are slightly flat.
You may also have a very tiny 'audio' cable that goes from the CD-ROM to the motherboard.
There may also be USB Headers and Firewire headers, as well as speakers and LED lights. These carry both data and power, and are typically very small and bunched in the bottom right corner of your motherboard.
See your motherboard's documentation for picture diagrams!
Internal power cables are usually twin strand cables - coloured red & black. Data cables are normally flat, multi-strand ribbon cables coloured grey - with a red strand at one end to indicate polarization.
A very quick way, if the cables are already plugged in on both ends, is to follow it. If the cable ends up in a large metal block with one or two fans on it, which when you look at it on the outside of the case, leads out to an electrical outlet, it gives power to a part. If the other end goes to another part, the motherboard, a part on the motherboard, your disc drive, etc, etc, it's some form of communication cable.
Data cables are usually flat, either flat and about 3/8" (Sata) or flat and about 1 1/4" (floppy) or 1 1/2" (PATA).
Power cables are usually round, usually about 1/16" - 3/32", and are usually bundled with other cables.
The best way to determine that is to follow the cables. Data cables will lead back to the motherboard while power cables will lead back to the power supply.
A serial ATA hard drive power cable (often just a bundle of loose wires) will run from the hard drive with 5 wires typically 2 black 1 red 1 yellow and another wire (varies in color, mostly white or orange).
A serial data cable will be one cable with several wires inside and runs to the motherboard.
The best way to tell if a computer cable is a data cable or a power cable is to trace where it goes. If it comes out of the power supply, it is a power cable. If it goes between the motherboard or a peripheral card and a peripheral, then it is a data cable.
The most obvious and easy way would be to observe where the cable in question goes. If it comes out of the power supply unit, then it is a power cable. If it goes between the motherboard and some device that is not a fan, then it is a data cable.
Another way would most likely be to use an Oscilloscope to watch the signal. Otherwise you may be able to use a Multimeter. BE EXTREMELY CAREFUL! the contacts inside a computer are quite small and shorting the wrong wires could cause severe damage such as data corruption, or even the destruction of sensitive components.
If it comes from the power supply, it's a power cable. If not, it's a data one. Some data cables are flat and are joined in groups, they're also thinner than power ones.
To provide power to the computer from a power source.
An internal hard-drive fits into a bay inside the computer's tower. A power cable from the power unit is plugged into the hard-drive. A data cable plugs the hard-drive into the motherboard.
There are many cables and components to a computer. The main cables for connecting the computer would be the power cable, and an Ethernet cable for connecting a non wireless PC to the internet.
very easy, if its SATA you will need a sata data cable, and sata power cable(usually included with the power supply) also you might need a caddy (the thing the hard drive sits in) but there will probably be spares inside your computer. The most common thing you wont have is a SATA cable
cable connectors fan power supply heat sink CPU
This is a good example of a question you might get in a bad computer repair class.Never assume you know what a cable does.Always study the motherboard and see where every cable is connected. Then identify what the function of the cable is.That said. In a generic Personal Computer there are typically only two types of cables. Data and Power. Data connects the motherboard bus to your equipment (eg. HardDrive). Power cables feed power from the DC converter to your equipment.
clock system
disconnect all power. unplug all electrical cables from the back of the computer and press the power button. Remove the rear or side of the computer to see the inside. Locate the cd drive. Unplug the CD-ROM unit's cable from the main system board. The connection can be a thin ribbon-like cable with a bar-shaped connector that plugs into the rear of the CD-ROM unit. The cable may look like a small tube-like cable, as well. Take the power cable from the back of the CD-ROM. Use a screwdriver to remove any screws. Slide the cd- drive out and put the new one in the same place. attach the existing cables and plug the power cable in. reattach the rear or side computer panel and return the power.
It goes through a cable.
your power supply has a small plug attach to it with several larger ones that go to your cdrom and hard drive it will fit in to the back of your floppy
USB Cable
the blue lead is the display lead (VGA) the power supply and you might have an ethernet cable (grey one, for internet) the ethernet cable is for the internet if you computer isnt wireless or if you want better connection the VGA is to connect to a computer screen or any external display the power lead is for power.