Which port do I plug my Harddrive in?

DavidHK

Honorable
Aug 11, 2012
43
1
10,530
I just purchased the ASRock Extreme4 Z77 motherboard(http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157293)
I have a 6gb/s harddrive ( http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136769 ) and I'm not sure what port to plug it in to. Kinda of a noob question, but does 6g mean the SATA port runs at 6gb/s?
I also purchased the Intel i5 3570K and am putting brand new Corsair Vengeance Ram (8gb, 1600MHz)
Do I need to reinstall my windows? Any tips before putting it all together?
Thanks!
 

USAFRet

Titan
Moderator
New mb/RAM/cpu/vid card = new computer. It is generally advisable to reinstall the OS. Sometimes plugging the old HD in works, sometimes it doesn't. But even if it does....it is non-optimal.

If that will be your primary drive, plug it into the SATA3 A0 port.
 

Dogsnake

Distinguished
Your MB has 6g sata ports. From what I see on the picture they are the grey ones. Yes you can use one of these to get the full speed of the drive. If you are using Windows 7 and have an OEM version, it may see the new items as a new computer and ask you to reactivate. You will will have to install new drivers for the boards chip set and devices. If you can without a great deal of trouble, a clean install would be best. However I would plug it ll in, run the MB set up disc and see if windows starts. Back up any data you want before just as a caution.