New build, new BIOS, SATAs not detected...

[gameranew22]

Hi all, I just built a brand new system and I've connected all of my wires to the MB and double-checked the SATA plugs but, I admit, I'm a complete newb at building and running a brand new computer so, when I go to my BIOS screen, I'm using an ASROCK Extreme4 p67 mobo and a 1TB Western Digital and a 64GB Crucial SSD. I'll be the first to admit that I don't know what I'm doing but know that I need to format my hardrives before I use them, how do I go about doing that and how can I get my drives to be detected?

Thanks for putting up with such a nooby question!

 

[Leaps-from-Shadows]

You format your boot drive during the Windows installation. The second drive will need to be formatted after Windows is fully installed, as you shouldn't have a second drive connected when you do the Windows install -- it can get confused and mess the install up.

I'm going to assume that your SSD and WD drives are both SATA3 6Gbps drives.

There are two white/gray SATA blocks on your board. Avoid using the top one (labeled SATA3_M1_M2) unless you absolutely have to. The Marvell SATA3 controller uses those ports, and it is much slower.

Connect your SSD to the second white/gray SATA block (labeled SATA3_0_1).
Connect your optical drive(s) to the blue SATA blocks. I prefer using them in order, so I would plug them into the blue block labeled SATA2_2_3 first.
Then install Windows.
After Windows in installed, shut down and connect the WD drive up to the second port in the white/gray SATA3_0_1 block. Boot back up and it should appear in Disk Management so you can format it.

 

[gameranew22]

yeah! Thank you so much, that's exactly the kind of answer I was looking for. I didn't know about plugging in the optical drive to the SATA 2 ports nor about plugging into the SATA M1 array either...

Okay, SAWWEEEEET! Thank you thank you thank you!

 

[gameranew22]

gahhhh, now it says "reboot and select proper boot device", I plugged my optical into the 4th slot on SATA II blue array (it was the easiest to reach) and I plugged the SSD into SATA 3_0 and left the Western Digital HDD unplugged, like you said. What should I do?

 

[Leaps-from-Shadows]

Make sure the BIOS is detecting both the SSD and the optical drive. There should be a Boot menu in the BIOS where you can select the optical drive as the first boot device so it will boot from the Windows DVD.

 

[gameranew22]

Got it fixed leaps, thanks again! As it turns out, the problem stemmed from me having my PSU plugged in to a shitty power strip instead of straight into the wall so I don't think I was getting enough power :/ But now it's working great!