Basic SSD/HDD combo questions.

[Pendora]

Hey everyone I am fairly new to the forums so sorry if this post is in the wrong place.
So here is where I am at. Any help and advise is helpful but please, PLEASE keep the info basic and don't use acronyms that beginners wouldn't know.

So I just finished building my new gaming rig and within it I am trying to run a SSD/HDD Combo (Corsair 120gb SSD/ WD 1tb HDD). I wanted to use My SSD for OS/Boot drive and 2 games, I wanted to use the HDD for all the other space consuming stuff like movies, pictures and what not.

I have been looking all over the internet for days on how to configure this set up but I have found nothing or anything I might have found is way to advanced for me. So hopefully you can help me out.

When I finished setting everything up I had My SSD and my HDD plugged into the Sata 1 and 2 port of my MSI motherboard. The Sata 1 and 2 in my MSI Mobo are 6gb ports, Im not entirely sure what that means but i'm sure it is faster transfer rates than 3gb.

So here is where im getting lost. When I first turned on my Pc I went into the BIOS to set the boot order, The BIOS only recognized the SSD even though both the SSD and HDD were plugged connected. So I shut down my Pc unplugged my SSD and rebooted. Went into the BIOS and it saw the HDD. I had not touched it. So I powered down my PC again and reconnected the SSD, When I went into the BIOS this time it did not see the SSD and only the HDD. So I powered down my Pc again disconnected the HDD, this time BIOS Saw the SSD.

So basically my computer will only see one drive at a time! Im not sure what to do.

The other Question I have is do I need to install my OS on my SSD and my HDD? or only one?
I have more questions but I will start with this.
Any help is appreciated.

Loganeatonsa@gmail.com is my Email. If you are willing to get on Skype and help me get this solved and configured I have a valid $20 Newegg gift card for you.

 

[JohnnyLucky]

I've run into this problem before with MSI motherboards. Go back into the System Bios. Look for a section where you can enable and disable drives. The section is not the same one where you select a boot drive. If the ssd and the hard drive are both connected then both will be listed in that section. One will be disabled and one will be enabled. Just enable both drives.

While you are in System BIOS don't forget to switch from IDE mode to AHCI mode.

You only need to install Microsoft Winfows 7 on the ssd. Do not install it on your hard disk drive.

Here is a link to the sticky at the very top of this forum section:

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/270102-32-useful-articles-part

The sticky has links to quite a few useful articles that should answer your questions.

 

[Pendora]

Thanks for the reply I will try that.
How do i switch from IDE to AHCI?? I'm not really sure what that is.
Although my hardware knowledge is well diverse when it comes to working in the BIOS and programing I get lost

 

[megame73]

Go in to system BIOS>main>sata configuration>configure sata as...

You probably looked under boot>boot device priority but if you go to boot>hard disk drives...you'll see that you have your HDD and SSD both in there. So if you are going to choose your device prio, you'll have to go in hard disk drives and choose your SSD if you want that to be your priority boot and make it you first hard drive.
For your last question, you don't need to install the OS on both drives if you're using the other for storage. But if you have your OS in HDD and not SSD, you might want to change heart.

 

[Pendora]

Alright so here is where I am out now. I went and blew Windows off my HDD and left it on the SSD.
I then went into BIOS and went : Main> Advanced> Integrated Peripherals. Under this tap there is a header that says:
SATA Configuration.
I switched my SATA mode to AHCI
I then enabled my SATA1-3 "Hot Plug"

Im not sure if this is what I needed to do but now when I log into windows I can see my WD 1TB, but not under hard drives.
It is under "Devices" Not sure what i can do with it i cant see anything is on it or how much space on it.

Help?

 

[Pendora]

Bump for help!