Having difficulty understanding SSDs

[seanyd]

first of all, these are the SSDs that i'm looking to buy:

Crucial m4 128GB 2.5-Inch Solid State Drive SATA 6Gb/s
Samsung MZ-7TD250BW 840 Series Solid State Drive (SSD) 250 GB Sata 2.5-Inch

What i'm having trouble understanding is how they are powered. I've been looking around Google to find a clear answer, but i haven't really found one.
So basically my question is, do i need a power cable for these two SSDs? Or, can i just run them off of the SATA data cable?

also, i'm looking to run these with an ASROCK z77 extreme 4 motherboard. So what would the compatability be? what extra cables would i need to buy?

 

[knightdog56]

You need to hook up a SATA power cable and a SATA data cable to these SSDs to make them work, also make sure AHCI is enabled in BIOS before you try to install operating system. Also if you plan to attach a HDD leave it disconnected untill after the operating system is installed.

 

[mbreslin1954]

SSDs don't use much power, but they do need some, which is why you need a SATA power cable, along with the data cable, just like a spinning magnetic HDD. kinghtdog56 covered all the basics, follow it and you're good to go, especially the part about only having your SSD connected when installing the OS. Windows for some reason likes to put boot files on a second disk, so that later if you remove it your system won't boot.

 

[seanyd]

do i hook up the power cables to the PSU or the actual motherboard?

 

[knightdog56]

You use a SATA power cable from power supply to connect to the SSD SATA power connection. You use a SATA data cable to connect from the motherboard to the SSD.
Follow the directions of your motherboard manual for correct SATA connections, but if I remember right I think you connect to the first gray SATA connector.

 

[seanyd]

Best answer selected by seanyd.

 

[fladawg1]

I have nothing to add except this was a posing issue for me as well, so thanks for all the heads up. Venturing into my first official build now, but had some assistant experience awhile back. Frist time with the SSD and also having a standard HDD. Glad I browsed before posting.