Setting up multiple SATA

[winyetta]

Hello guys,


I'm looking for help with setting up 4 SATA drives.

I have recently upgraded my 4-yr-old PC with some new equipment, including a motherboard (Gigabyte EP45-DS3R). I consider myself to be somewhat knowledgeable, so instead of paying for someone at the store to put the new stuff in to the case, I've decided to do it myself at home, but I'm having some difficulties.

The board has got 6 SATA connectors, numbered SATA_0 to SATA_5. As my previous motherboard was similar to the new one, I have simply followed the setup of that one, so I have connected the HDDs in numerical order, system drive to SATA_0 and the other three in numerical order.
Well, it did not work that way, so I've looked into the BIOS settings to see if something is not set in there, but found nothing at all. After some disconnecting/reconnecting, I have managed to get things working by connecting the system drive on the SATA_1 connector and the others to the following ones and finally I can now use all but one.

The one that I can not use is present in Disk Management, however, it is marked as 'Dynamic' and 'Disconnected'.

As the plugs are - in my humble opinion - ok, I really have no clue as to what the problem could be.

I would really appreciate if someone could help me out with this one.

Thanks and regards,
winyetta

PS: OS is XP Pro SP3.

 

[Lavarin]

There are four scenarios that come to mind:

1) Not all your SATA ports are enabled - check if SATA_0 to SATA_5 are active (check the manual to see if you can do this in the BIOS, or by setting a jumper or switch)
2) One or more of your hard disks are faulty
3) One or more of your SATA ports are faulty
4) One or more of your SATA cables are faulty

Get one of your hard disks (the one you know works) and connect it to one SATA port, see if it works, and repeat the process among all SATA ports. I've got a feeling though that SATA_0 and SATA_5 may be faulty, again if they're already enabled.