3.5" SSD Sata conversion from conventional HD

[Raul_McCai]

ASUS x79Deluxe mb It's got SATA not SATA-ii or SATA-iii
Will be running Linux; switching over from Win7
Currently I have two front loading drive bays for conventional 4" hard drives.
I wanna convert at least one of these front loading drive bays to accommodate 3.5" solid state drives.
So I think I need:
1) different cables ( unsure what) I want to connect to the ASUS MB but I don't know what connects to the SSD but I sort of guess it ain't what I'm used to.
2) different bays BUT the bays I've seen don't appear to have electrical connectors for the ssd
Do I need anything more?
Can you help me with terminology? I don't know exactly what to call a 3.5" front loading SSD bay. Is that the correct expression?
I don't know what to call the cables.
New Egg shows me a bay that can handle two SSDs but with nothing to plug the ssd into for a connection and they call it internal - not front loading ( ICY DOCK) https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817994141&cm_re=3.5_inch_ssd_bay-_-17-994-141-_-Product
Is that what I need? Will it front load so I can pull the SSD and put in another without opening the case?
You can probably guess it's been a long time since I built a PC.

 

[k1114]

Sata cables don't have versions but just wanted to let you know you have 2x sata 3 ports and 4x sata 2 ports. Sata 1 hasn't been on mobos for like 15 years. There are no such thing as 4" drives. 3.5" are desktop hdd size. 2.5" is laptop size which is also the form factor for ssds. What you want is called a hot swap bay/dock/rack. https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817198067 What you linked to is just an adapter to an internal hdd cage. For external bays, there are the larger 5.25" bays that the cd drives go in and the 3.5" that 3.5" floppies went in so make sure you are getting the right drive bay size. They make hot swap bays for both sizes.

 

[geofelt]

A sata ssd will have the exact same connectors as a sata hard drive.
Each drive will need a conventional sata data cable as well as a normal sata pcu power cable.

So far as I know, there are no 3.5" sata ssd devices made any more. They are all 2.5" and may vary from 7 to 9mm thick.
There are some simple 2.5" to 3.5" adapters that you could possibly use.
They look like this:
https://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Description=2.5%20to%203.5%20drive%20bay%20adapter&Submit=ENE
If your front bays are the 5.25" size commonly used for a dvd drive, here is a replacement with 4 removable slots for 2.5" ssd devices.
If you look at the rear photo, you will see 4 sata data connectors, and one sata power connector that is routed to all of the drives.
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817994181

 

[Raul_McCai]

Thanks guys. I measured my HDs and they are 4" so that's what I called 'em. When I built my last box there were no choices so I never contemplated size. I just bought a SATA hard drive and they were all the same.
Western Digital has some 3.5" SSDs and new Egg has them on sale. So they are not making 'em any more and Inventory will be soon unavailable and they'll all be obsolete? OK got it.
BUT~!!!!!
A refinement please. The newer smaller r SSDs (II & III & IV) all have Exactly the same Sata connections and Exactly the same power connector as do the older spinning platter SATA drives??
That's what I think I read.

About the ASUS main board. K114, you said this main boars has two SATA-III and Four SATA-1V ports? I gotta get out my manual then. I hit the ASUS site and the advertising merely said SATA. and I assumed that they'd be trumpeting it if they had other than that. thanks

 

[k1114]

Sata is sata as far as data and power cables. Old, new, desktop, laptop, hdd, ssd, optical drive, etc.; sata is all the same connections. There is no such thing as sata 4. The full specs of your mobo are on the internet as well. https://www.asus.com/us/Motherboards/X79DELUXE/specifications/ That mobo is not 15 years old so there's no way it'll have sata 1.

There are no 3.5" ssds by western digital. You may have confused sshd which is a hdd with a ssd cache. There are no 3.5" ssds on newegg. They haven't' been made for quite a few years.