Question Replacing an HDD with an SSD: How should I make the connection?

[Thespian0757]

I am currently in the process of replacing an HDD with an SSD. Below, you can see how the HDD was originally connected.

When I removed the HDD, I noticed that the cables are different from the ones provided with the SSD mounting set. Here, you can see that the HDD has a connector with five cables.

My question is whether I should use the connector that was originally connected to the HDD (with five cables) or the one that was provided with the SSD (with four cables).


If I need to use the SATA cable with four cables, how do I connect it to the power supply? I notice there are some unused connectors that appear to come from the power supply. Should I connect the SATA cable to one of these connectors, for example?

 

[USAFRet]

a 2.5" SATA III SSD uses the exact same cables as the current HDD.

Hang on....what is the current HDD?
Make/model please.

SATA Power, from the PSU
SATA Data, from the motherboard.

Those 4 pin MOLEX things are irrelevant for the SSD.

What SSD are you putting in?

 

[Thespian0757]

The HDD in question is the Seagate Barracuda 1000GB.

The SSD I intend to install is the Crucial 2.5-Inch SSD MX500, also with a capacity of 1000GB.

The dilemma lies in the fact that the HDD was connected using a 5-cable connector, whereas the SATA cable supplied with the mounting set has only 4 cables.

 

[USAFRet]

Please show the connector end of the 1TB Seagate.

But....the MX500 needs a SATA Power from the PSU (the thing with 5 cables), and SATA Data from the motherboard.

 

[lordmogul]

Most SATA HDDs use the orange 3.3v pin only to turn the drive off.

The reason why the Molex adapter doesn't have the pin is simply because the plug doesn't have it in it's specifications.

You can do fine without the pin or with it, it doesn't matter. I would just use as few connectors as possible, so just use the one on the PSU.

If the drive doesn't work right, there might be some conflict with the PWDIS feature on newer drives and you could try using it with the pin disconnected.

 

[hotaru.hino]

You can use either the SATA power cable or a Molex power cable with a converter to a SATA power connector. It doesn't matter.

Regarding the 3.3V power that SATA is supposed to provide, I believe a lot of hardware manufacturers ignore it, since it wasn't used often enough to matter.

 

[Thespian0757]

Please show the connector end of the 1TB Seagate.

But....the MX500 needs a SATA Power from the PSU (the thing with 5 cables), and SATA Data from the motherboard.

This is the connector that was used in the HDD.

 

[USAFRet]

This is the connector that was used in the HDD.

Right.

That looks like a standard SATA power cable.

The exact same thing that will connect to your MX500.

 

[Thespian0757]

You can use either the SATA power cable or a Molex power cable with a converter to a SATA power connector. It doesn't matter.

Regarding the 3.3V power that SATA is supposed to provide, I believe a lot of hardware manufacturers ignore it, since it wasn't used often enough to matter.

Okay, in that case, I will use the same connector that was originally used with the HDD, which is the one with the orange cable.

Regarding the SATA data cable, can I also use the same cable that was used with the HDD? Here, you can see it was a blue cable.

I'm asking this because there was another cable included in the package, shown here:

I assume it is the same type of cable, but I just want to confirm.

 

[USAFRet]

Regarding the SATA data cable, can I also use the same cable that was used with the HDD? Here, you can see it was a blue cable.

Yes.
That blue cable will work.

Exact same connection.

 

[USAFRet]

To sum up....the same 2 cables that are currently on your HDD will connect directly to your new MX500 SSD.