Installing second SATA drive advice
Last response: in Storage
Hi guys,
I'm not really clued up on hardware issues like installing hard drives (at least, SATA ones) etc so I'm looking for some help please.
I have a spare hard drive bay in my PC and it's SATA connections on my motherboard. I have four SATA ports, two of them together (with one hard drive already connected) and two in a different area (with DVD drive already connected).
I bought a new SATA drive to add to the one I already have installed, but forgot to buy a SATA cable to connect it! (There is a spare power connector for the new drive.)
What I need help on is what type of cable to buy. I've had a look around but there are so many different ones and I'm lost as to which to go for. Is cable or connector colour important? Anything else I need to know before making a decision?
Thank in advance,
Joogs
I'm not really clued up on hardware issues like installing hard drives (at least, SATA ones) etc so I'm looking for some help please.
I have a spare hard drive bay in my PC and it's SATA connections on my motherboard. I have four SATA ports, two of them together (with one hard drive already connected) and two in a different area (with DVD drive already connected).
I bought a new SATA drive to add to the one I already have installed, but forgot to buy a SATA cable to connect it! (There is a spare power connector for the new drive.)
What I need help on is what type of cable to buy. I've had a look around but there are so many different ones and I'm lost as to which to go for. Is cable or connector colour important? Anything else I need to know before making a decision?
Thank in advance,
Joogs
More about : installing sata drive advice
Just in case you have any confusion (sometimes caused by faulty advice from helpful friends), you do NOT have to set ANY jumpers on your new SATA drive. Setting jumpers to make a drive a Master or a Slave is ONLY relevant to older IDE units, and never for SATA.
There is one small exception to this, and it's getting less common. Some computers have as their SATA interfaces only the original slower SATA 1.5 Gb/s version, and all current SATA HDD's are newer SATA 3.0 or 6.0 units. This is NOT supposed to be a problem - the new HDD is supposed to figure out what controller it is connected to and adapt itself if necessary. But in a few cases they don't, and a new SATA 3.0 Gb/s drive cannot talk to an original SATA 1.5 Gb/s controller. In those few cases if you go to the HDD maker's website you can find instructions for setting a jumper on the drive to force it to slow down to the old speed. Do NOT move any other jumpers. And do not even bother with this unless you know you have older original SATA 1.5 Gb/s controllers and you actually do find that the new drive cannot work when installed (that is, the automatic adjustment process really did fail).
There is one small exception to this, and it's getting less common. Some computers have as their SATA interfaces only the original slower SATA 1.5 Gb/s version, and all current SATA HDD's are newer SATA 3.0 or 6.0 units. This is NOT supposed to be a problem - the new HDD is supposed to figure out what controller it is connected to and adapt itself if necessary. But in a few cases they don't, and a new SATA 3.0 Gb/s drive cannot talk to an original SATA 1.5 Gb/s controller. In those few cases if you go to the HDD maker's website you can find instructions for setting a jumper on the drive to force it to slow down to the old speed. Do NOT move any other jumpers. And do not even bother with this unless you know you have older original SATA 1.5 Gb/s controllers and you actually do find that the new drive cannot work when installed (that is, the automatic adjustment process really did fail).
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Sata connections are point to point.
The sata connector on each end of the cable is the same, so it does not matter which end is connected to the hard drive.
Here is a link to a typical sata cable:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
This particular cable has a right angle connector on one end which may be helpful in tight quarters. You can get right and left angles, if that matters.
The color of the cable is irrelevant.
You can connect your new hard drive to either of the two available ports, with no reason to pick one or the other.
The sata connector on each end of the cable is the same, so it does not matter which end is connected to the hard drive.
Here is a link to a typical sata cable:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
This particular cable has a right angle connector on one end which may be helpful in tight quarters. You can get right and left angles, if that matters.
The color of the cable is irrelevant.
You can connect your new hard drive to either of the two available ports, with no reason to pick one or the other.
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