[SOLVED] Can I swap my HDD's SATA Port?

[Allers]

Hello,

I got a new M.2 SSD, but the Motherboard's manual says the SATA 5 Port on my HDD can't have anything plugged into it if you have a 2nd M.2 (Which I had just bought). Is it safe to move the HDD to a different SATA port on my Motherboard?

Thank you for any responses.

 

[TerryLaze]

If it's just a data drive it's ok, if it has an OS on it you will have to edit the boot menu to continue booting from it.
If it is the main boot drive you will have to tell your bios to switch ports as well.

 

[popatim]

I haven't had an issue swapping sata ports in a long time, even for a boot drive.

 

[TerryLaze]

I haven't had an issue swapping sata ports in a long time, even for a boot drive.

A lot of bios have the option to auto search all the ports at every boot which lets you switch ports without issue but it also takes quite a bit longer to boot up.

 

[popatim]

Which motherboard do you have that lets you assign a drive to a port? ie - turn off auto?

 

[TerryLaze]

Which motherboard do you have that lets you assign a drive to a port? ie - turn off auto?

You don't assign the drives, the mobo counts through the ports starting at 0 and assigns the drives it finds increasing numbers, which is why changing drives or attaching one to a lower port number can mess up booting.

I thought that all mobos do that and also have the auto option, are you sure yours doesn't have that as well? In your sata port tab, if you have an option to scan for drives there it will do it one time and assign all the drives canceling the auto.

 

[drea.drechsler]

Booting seems a bit more robust with UEFI as the BIOS will search through attached the drives for the EFI boot partition and then initiate the boot from it whichever (functional) SATA port it's installed at. Because of that, I've not had any issues with booting on my modern systems either when I've moved drives around.

But then I also wonder if it might be different with all the security Windows 11 demands.

And if OP has more than one OS installed or boot (EFI) partitions on different drives it could affect boot behavior. So knowing more about your system configuration to know if it's modern UEFI with Secure Boot enabled vs. older MBR will be helpful to get more relevant answers.

 

[Allers]

Thank you all for the replies. I ended up plugging it into my SATA 4 Port and it works now.

I have a MSI Z390 SLI Pro motherboard for the person who asked. The Motherboard manual said that you can't have anything plugged into the SATA 5 Port if you plug in a 2nd M.2, so I just moved the SATA plug into the MB's SATA 4 port and it's working good now.
Also I only have one OS so it was fine.

Thanks again for everyone who responded.