SSD not recognized in BIOS but recognized when I use USB to SATA cable, Help!

Phallacy

Honorable
Dec 12, 2013
9
0
10,510
Hey guys

I recently bought a second SSD to add to my PC. It is the Toshiba Q series 128gb one and I'm having a tough time doing an install. First I hooked up the SATA 3 cable to my mobo and the SSD and the power but couldn't see it anywhere in my BIOS or disk management. I even tried a different SATA 3 port on my mobo. After that I used a usb to sata cable that came with my samsung ssd and hooked it up that way and its recognized immediately in disk management and I was able to format and create a simple drive I believe is the option name. After work today I'm going to buy another SATA 3 cable because my feeling is that the first SATA 3 cable might be bad. Anybody have suggestions during the mean time that I may be overlooking?

My mobo is an asrock z77 extreme 4. I have one other ssd which is my boot drive by Samsung and a mechanical hdd by western digital. Running windows 8.1
 
Solution
The most likely solution is the SATA cable, but I would also check the power cable as well. A good way to do this without purchasing anything is to swap cables with your current drive (as in, use the new power & SATA cable for your current HDD, or use the old 'known good' ones with your new drive) and check what comes up. Even if you can't boot into the OS, the BIOS should let you know whether it detects it or not.

kipland007

Honorable
May 6, 2012
10
0
10,520
The most likely solution is the SATA cable, but I would also check the power cable as well. A good way to do this without purchasing anything is to swap cables with your current drive (as in, use the new power & SATA cable for your current HDD, or use the old 'known good' ones with your new drive) and check what comes up. Even if you can't boot into the OS, the BIOS should let you know whether it detects it or not.
 
Solution