Adding an extra SSD - question about changing SATA connections.

[FlyingNutcase]

Hi folks. I've bought an SSD for extra game storage (not for OS). My little 240GB'ish drive (Windows boot + IL2 & Steam games) is too full. Just a question about connections...

 

The connections issue: In order to get both a power cable and SATA cable in the right place for the new drive (in the easiest scenario), I would need to disconnect the SATA cable from the current OS SSD, reconnect another available SATA cable to it and then use that now free SATA cable with the new SSD. 

 

Question: Is okay to swap out SATA cables (so it doesn't bugger up the Windows boot process). Or put another way, does the boot process expect to find Windows connected to the currently connected SATA cable (in which case swapping cables would seem to be a problem) or does it just check all drives for the boot drive (in which case swapping cables would seem to be a okay).

 

Thank you!

 

[Jaws2002]

You have to setup your boot sequence in bios, so Windows knows where to boot from. 

That would resolve the boot issue, but then your drive letters will change and programs that use that to communicate and operate, will have issues.

 It's best to let your current SSD attached to the SATA cable/port it is currently hooked to and hook the new SSD to the next SATA port on your motherboard.

It also helps to check your motherboard manual for the SATA port numbers, and have the dvd/blue ray hooked to the first port, the OS drive to the second one and the new drive to the next in line.

By default bios will use that as boot sequence. 

Here's a screenshot from the manual for my motherboard to understand what I mean:

 

Edited December 2, 2019 by Jaws2002

[Jaws2002]

I may have gone too far with this. If this is just a cable management issue, you can connect the new drive to the existing SATA cable and just swap the other end of the SATA cable in the motherboard, so your old drive is connected to the same port in the motherboard.

Or you can just swap them like you wanted and change the boot sequence in bios.

Edited December 2, 2019 by Jaws2002

[FlyingNutcase]

Thank you for the above Jaws. Armed with this knowledge I confidently plugged in the SSD (power & SATA cables). But it didn't show up in Windows so I YouTubed for solutions. The drive doesn't show up under System Information nor Create & Format Disk Partitions, so I'm currently stumped again. Any thoughts? The cabling seems okay with the two cables seemingly plugged in okay. I'll take a fresh look tomorrow.

[ZachariasX]

50 minutes ago, FlyingNutcase said:

Thank you for the above Jaws. Armed with this knowledge I confidently plugged in the SSD (power & SATA cables). But it didn't show up in Windows so I YouTubed for solutions. The drive doesn't show up under System Information nor Create & Format Disk Partitions, so I'm currently stumped again. Any thoughts? The cabling seems okay with the two cables seemingly plugged in okay. I'll take a fresh look tomorrow.

Does it show in the BIOS? SATA SSD should be listed like any other ATA device

[Jaws2002]

If it shows up in Bios you may need to instal the drivers for the new SSD.

What motherboard do you have? On some motherboards if you populate the last PCIE slot, it disables one SATA port. Something to keep in mind.

[FlyingNutcase]

Thank you guys, it's working. 

 

I found that it was listed in BIOS - I think I just missed it listed at the bottom of Drives in System Info and realized that Windows had auto detected the new drive when opening Create & Format Disk Partitions. 

 

So I've assigned it a drive letter, given it a name and it's tested and working. Very happy and relieved!