SATA Question

jdderbys · 1 Dec 2006 at 09:08

Sorry for this if it sounds really dumb but iv never used SATA and its been years since i built a comp and technology has changed

Iv just build a new system and never used SATA before. As mentioned in the reply i have 2 500gb SATA drives installed into SATA port one and two (no raid).

Can i install another 1 or 2 drives in exacty the same way? i.e. just plug into SATA port 3 and 4?

Will they just appear as extra drives? or does more than 2 drives require RAID to be set up?

squiffy · 1 Dec 2006 at 09:21

It's like IDE, except simpler. You don't have to mess around with cable select, master/slave. Just bung in the other two when you're ready and the BIOS will see them. You can have 4 non raid drives, or more if you add a SATA PCI controller.

jdderbys · 1 Dec 2006 at 10:02

thanks for that. iv 1TB in HD currently but will eventually need to add more.

Its good to know its simple and easy to just add more

jdderbys · 1 Dec 2006 at 11:19

Sorry one more question.

My MB has 7 SATA points on it. Does that mean i can have up to 7 HD's all running as stand alones?

rpstewart · 1 Dec 2006 at 11:27

jdderbys said:
Sorry one more question.

My MB has 7 SATA points on it. Does that mean i can have up to 7 HD's all running as stand alones?

Yes, shouldn't be a problem to do that.

jdderbys · 1 Dec 2006 at 13:40

This makes life so much easier over the older IDE setup!

Douglas666 · 2 Dec 2006 at 13:18

Hi,

I was just coming on here to ask this very same question as mentioned by the original poster! My external hdd used for storage died this week (was reliable, 3yrs working nearly 24/7, my guess is the mechanical parts just failed). So I am finally taking the plunge and delving into my ageing pc to discover hitherto unknown hardware and how it works. Glad to know that I can buy some nice 400gb SATA Samsung SpinPoints and whack them in without having to get my head around varying types of RAID (I want standalone drives too). This was mainly a concern as I already have 1 x 80gb Seagate SATA with 2 partitions (C:\ is the OS, D:\ now "storage") and I was unsure if putting new hdds in would force me to reformat etc. This thread has saved me quite a bit of heartache, thanks!

*runs off to the OCUK store to spend*

Addendum, I hope this does not apply as hijacking a thread: I have 4 sata connections on the motherboard (Abit IS7-G), current drive is on SATA 1 port, I have a 2nd SATA port next to it and 2 further SATA ports with an SATA Controller chip located a little distance away. If I bought 2 x hdd, could I just put them on SATA connections 2 and 3? Or would it be a different combination?