Running out of SATA ports on the motherboard

[Desmond S]

My mb is gigabyte b85m-d3h. I want to add a ssd to my pc but it already has 3 hdds and 1 optical drive in it and runs out of SATA ports. However, as i look at the specs of the mb, it says it should have 4 x SATA 6Gb/s connectors and 2 x SATA 3Gb/s connectors. But i can only see 4 physical ports (2 white and 2 black) in total as shown here: http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=4567#ov

Judging by the figures on top, does that mean the white ones can each support two hdds with something like an adapter? If so, are there any downsides of doing that? Thanks.

 

[Mr Kagouris]

The black vertical ones are the SATA 2 connectors, the 2 white vertical and 2 white horizontal ones are SATA 3. Plug your HDDs into the black connectors (SATA 2 speeds are fine for an HDD) and the SSD into any of the white ports. No adapters required.

 

[Desmond S]

The black vertical ones are the SATA 2 connectors, the 2 white vertical and 2 white horizontal ones are SATA 3. Plug your HDDs into the black connectors (SATA 2 speeds are fine for an HDD) and the SSD into any of the white ports. No adapters required.

Thanks for the reply! But there will not be enough connectors because i will need 5 in total for 3 hdds, one optical drive as well as the additional ssd..

I'm perplexed about the specs stating there are supposed to be 4 SATAIII connectors on the motherboard as i can only see two...

 

[Mr Kagouris]

There are 6 connectors on the motherboard. 2 black ones, which are SATA 2, two white VERTICAL ones which are SATA 3, and a little white "tower" next to them that has 2 HORIZONTAL SATA 3 connectors.

 

[Desmond S]

Haha i've never noticed that since all the cables and stuff are so messy around there. Thank you so much!