4 SATA Detected instead of 6

[seeback]

So I've been humming numming sounds trying to figure out why the 5th and 6th Sata port doesn't work.

Here is the motherboard:
http://www.asus.com/uk/Motherboards/M4N75TD/#specifications

It has 6slots for Sata, which are 2.0 and well I've connected all my HDD's to 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th.. All works. But then recently I got a new case and I need to add a SATA DVD-ROM, but when I connect it to any (5th, 6th) it doesn't work.
- This also doesn't work for Hard Drives.

In BIOS everything seems to be normal, it can detect 2IDE's and 4SATA's where it should be able to detect 6SATA's.

Any idea how to address this issue?

 

[techgeek]

According to you motherboard manual, SATA 5 and 6 only support AHCI and RAID. ATAPI devices will not work on these ports. Put one of your hard drives on one of these ports and use the port that is freed up.

 

[seeback]

Oh, didn't know that. Do you think a hard drive will work on them? As much as I've looked it's for SSD HDD's?

 

[techgeek]

If the hard drive supports AHCI (NCQ, etc) yes. I don't know if there are any SSD's that don't support AHCI, I think all of them do, so yes.

 

[techgeek]

What OS are you using?

Also was the OS installed on the boot device with the drive set to AHCI in the BIOS?

I believe with Windows Vista and above you can switch between IDE and AHCI and Windows is smart enough to detect the change on the next boot and switch drivers. Because XP doesn't support AHCI natively, a driver has to be installed before you can enable AHCI, so switching afterwards can be a pain.

 

[seeback]

What OS are you using?

Also was the OS installed on the boot device with the drive set to AHCI in the BIOS?

I believe with Windows Vista and above you can switch between IDE and AHCI and Windows is smart enough to detect the change on the next boot and switch drivers. Because XP doesn't support AHCI natively, a driver has to be installed before you can enable AHCI, so switching afterwards can be a pain.

Well I'm using Win 7 Ultimate.

And: How can I check if my HDD's support AHCI?

 

[techgeek]

All new SATA drives support AHCI, but to be sure, can you give the model numbers?

 

[seeback]

All new SATA drives support AHCI, but to be sure, can you give the model numbers?

Well 2 are 1TB's, and 1x 500gb and 1x 320gb

http://gyazo.com/7251c1963464226018cd99e2075f273f

Will these help or I have to definetly check them manually?

 

[techgeek]

So here's the skinny on those drives:

ST31000528AS 1TB SATA2 supports NCQ
ST3500312CS 500GB SATA2 supports NCQ
WD10EARS 1TB SATA2 supports NCQ
WD3200AAKS 320GB SATA2 maybe supports NCQ

When I checked the drive specs, only 1 source said that the 320GB Western Digital drive supported NCQ and it wasn't from WD site. So if you move any of them, I would chose either of the 1TB or the 500GB drive to either 5 or 6. Then use the port that HDD was on to plug your ODD into.

It would be best if you left your boot drive (the one Windows is on) alone. Move one of the others. Then in the BIOS make sure the port you have the ODD plugged into is set to IDE. It is entirely up to you whether you enable AHCI on the HDD on the remaining ports if they aren't already. It is debatable on whether NCQ has much of an impact on disk performance in a desktop environment. It helps in server environments due to the number of IO calls on the storage subsystem. Of course you don't have an option on SATA ports 5 and 6, they only support AHCI and RAID.

Hope that helps.

 

[seeback]

So here's the skinny on those drives:

ST31000528AS 1TB SATA2 supports NCQ
ST3500312CS 500GB SATA2 supports NCQ
WD10EARS 1TB SATA2 supports NCQ
WD3200AAKS 320GB SATA2 maybe supports NCQ

When I checked the drive specs, only 1 source said that the 320GB Western Digital drive supported NCQ and it wasn't from WD site. So if you move any of them, I would chose either of the 1TB or the 500GB drive to either 5 or 6. Then use the port that HDD was on to plug your ODD into.

It would be best if you left your boot drive (the one Windows is on) alone. Move one of the others. Then in the BIOS make sure the port you have the ODD plugged into is set to IDE. It is entirely up to you whether you enable AHCI on the HDD on the remaining ports if they aren't already. It is debatable on whether NCQ has much of an impact on disk performance in a desktop environment. It helps in server environments due to the number of IO calls on the storage subsystem. Of course you don't have an option on SATA ports 5 and 6, they only support AHCI and RAID.

Hope that helps.

Well thank you for your quick replies Really appreciate it. I will try to switch the 500gb into one of them and then will see if it works, after that I'll come back to say if it has worked or not

 

[seeback]

VOLA!

Wow, I'm so happy right now. IT WORKED!

What I did I plugged in the 1TB in there, due to the length of the SATA wires and the need for ''neat wiring'' ^^. Then what I had to do was change it to AHCI mode, but if someone is reading this then don't do it from BIOS straight away, first read this: DO THIS BEFORE CHANGING IT IN BIOS

And vola, all HDD's are found )


Thank you techgeek

 

[techgeek]

VOLA!

Wow, I'm so happy right now. IT WORKED!

What I did I plugged in the 1TB in there, due to the length of the SATA wires and the need for ''neat wiring'' ^^. Then what I had to do was change it to AHCI mode, but if someone is reading this then don't do it from BIOS straight away, first read this: DO THIS BEFORE CHANGING IT IN BIOS

And vola, all HDD's are found )


Thank you techgeek

No problem, glad you got it all sorted.