HELP!!! How to connect SATA drives?

[Victor]

Guys, please. First time assembling a comp on SATA. Could not find anywhere how do I connect SATA drives. There is a small SATA connection, some SATA power and something that looks similar to usual IDE drive power. WHat do I do with all that?

And another question: I do not need any jumpers, do I? I just setup everything in BIOS? (only 2 HDD)

 

[wafflez]

it depends...some satas use the normal 4-pin connector while most of them need a special ~$2 one for power if the psu doesn't have a sata connector. Also, the data cable is extremely small and most mobos have around 2 sata connectors...these cables usually cost ~$7...hope that helps.

 

[PC eye]

The first you will need to have is the actual cable for sata drives. That will be quite a bit narrower and not as long as the typical ide ribbon cables you are probably familiar with. With sata drives there are no jumper setting to worry about. You simply plug in the sata cable and the flat and wide power connector that looks different from the usual 12v molex plugs used on optical as well as ide hard drives. The board's manual will show where sata master #1, sata master #2, and additional drives are plugged in. The sockets on the board will also be a bit different in appearance there as well.

For assigning which drive will be the default you go into the boot order section where you then highlight the hard drives item there and press enter. Once that opens you can rearrange the drive order for the two sata drives and usually the "card bus" item seen there. You use the + or - key to move the selected drive to the top of the list and either press F10 or choose the exit and save option when leaving the bios itself.

To get an idea of what sata cables look like browse through the different ones seen at http://www.frozencpu.com/cat/l2/g2/c197/list/p1/Cables-SATA_Cables.html?source=yahoo6 They come as short as 6" and run longer if needed. The plugs and connectors on drives and the board are all fit one way only.