[SOLVED] Problems plugging in new SATA SSD on old system: cables confusion?

[splunge]

Hi all! I'm trying to upgrade my old Win 10 system . It has a 250 GB SSD with the OS and apps and a 2 TB HDD with data and apps. I successfully cloned the SSD to a higher capacity SSD but am running into problems physically installing it.

I was able to remove the old SSD and connect it to the SATA cable which has several SATA connectors, a tight cramped procedure. Apparently I managed to unplug the HDD as when I booted up, the system ran but D drive was not identified.

I opened up the case again and tried to reattach the cable to the HDD but all the connectors came loose and when i tried to boot it, it wouldn't boot but stayed balck creen saying trying to boot from C.

It's possible in reassembling I pulled a cable again but am wondering if different SATA connectors from the cable assign disk priority and if that can be cahnged in BIOS. Also there are 2 connectors 1 for the longer pin array on the drive and 1 for the shorter and wonder if they need to match to work right.

Advice and gernal tips for keeping the stupid cables on would be very welcome!

 

[CountMike]

Hi all! I'm trying to upgrade my old Win 10 system . It has a 250 GB SSD with the OS and apps and a 2 TB HDD with data and apps. I successfully cloned the SSD to a higher capacity SSD but am running into problems physically installing it.

I was able to remove the old SSD and connect it to the SATA cable which has several SATA connectors, a tight cramped procedure. Apparently I managed to unplug the HDD as when I booted up, the system ran but D drive was not identified.

I opened up the case again and tried to reattach the cable to the HDD but all the connectors came loose and when i tried to boot it, it wouldn't boot but stayed balck creen saying trying to boot from C.

It's possible in reassembling I pulled a cable again but am wondering if different SATA connectors from the cable assign disk priority and if that can be cahnged in BIOS. Also there are 2 connectors 1 for the longer pin array on the drive and 1 for the shorter and wonder if they need to match to work right.

Advice and gernal tips for keeping the stupid cables on would be very welcome!

Drive number (not letter) is assigned according to SATA port is connected to. so drive connected to SATA1 port will be drive 0, SATA port 2 will be drive 1 and so on.
Letters are assigned to a partition (even if there's only one on disk) by OS starting with letter C: where OS is.
Wires/cables are one (narrower one) for data and other end goes to MB SATA port while other (with wider connector) is for power and connected to PSU. They can't be interchanged but both have to be plugged in properly. Power cables can be connected together inline but data cable has to be one per disk. Connectors for both are keyed so they can fit only in right place and right way also have to stay firmly.
Although all data cables are same there some of better quality that have metal clips to hold better and are also more flexible and some have disk side connector at 90 degrees so they fit better in the case.

 

[geofelt]

If your HDD was present when you installed windows on the original ssd, windows placed a hidden recovery partition on the HDD. Effectively making it impossible to boot without the HDD present.
There are some complicated methods to remedy this later.
Google is your friend on that.
After your successful ssd clone, remove the original ssd and connect the new C drive exactly where the original was.

SSD devices are light, and for testing, you can just leave it loose, just connected by the sata data cable to the motherboard and the sata power cable connected to the psu.

When using several sata devices, I like to use different colored sata data cables to insure correct connections.

 

[splunge]

Thank you Count Mike! Is there a way to tell which SATA port the cable is connected to when dealing with a ribbon of cables with several connectors?

 

[geofelt]

Thank you Count Mike! Is there a way to tell which SATA port the cable is connected to when dealing with a ribbon of cables with several connectors?

The psu sata power connectors can be many on a single psu lead.
It makes no difference which is connected to the ssd.

Normally, it makes no difference which motherboard sata port is connected to the ssd.
Some motherboards will disable two sata ports if a fast m.2 device is connected.
Your motherboard manual will tell you which.

Over time, I have accumulated a bunch of different sata data cables.
I will use different looking cables to run from the motherboard to sata devices.
Just to be able to quickly identify them without having to trace them.

 

[splunge]

Follow up:

After messing around with the system, I invited a friend with more practical knowlege than I have and he realized I had broken one of the SATA power recepticles and so the SSD wasn't getting any power! One SATA power Y connector later and I'm back in business.

Any reason I need to secure the SSD to the case? I don't plan on moving it in the next few years and I suspect I might have cracked the connector when i shoved the drive into place.

 

[geofelt]

There is no urgent need to secure the ssd to the case.
Just lay it somewhere where it will not be in the way or be inadvertently moved.
Some will use double sided tape or even duct tape.