SATA cable with multiple plugs

[JIB271]

Hi All -
I just found out after 5 years that I actually have a 128GB ASUS SSD Card in my computer. It was unplugged. For 5 years.

I was cleaning out my computer today and I just stumbled upon it. I laughed very had.
Ok, heres the question. So, the SATA cables that are connected to my motherboard and HDD have multiple ports on it up and down the cable. Could I connect my SSD card and HDD along the same SATA cable, to my motherboard?

Also, Im not sure if this card is broken or corrupted or what, but when I did plug both my HDD and SSD card in along the same cable, it wouldn't show up in BIOS. Nor would it show up in BIOS when it was the only one connected. Do I have to install windows on it first?

Thanks
Julian =D

 

[ccampy]

Did you have both power and data connected?

 

[JIB271]

Did you have both power and data connected?

Yes, so my SSD card and my HDD had 2 cables plugged into each of them.

 

[Pat Flynn]

Are you referring to multiple power connections on the same cable? Because SATA cables are point to point only, not like the old IDE ribbon cables that could take 2-3 drives on a rail. The power connector is the wider plug of the two connections.
As for multiple power connectors, yes- you can certainly use all the connectors on a rail. The SATA connectors need to be point to point, so as long as you have a cable for each drive going to their own port, you'll be fine and they should show up in the BIOS (as long as they aren't defective).

 

[JIB271]

Are you referring to multiple power connections on the same cable? Because SATA cables are point to point only, not like the old IDE ribbon cables that could take 2-3 drives on a rail. The power connector is the wider plug of the two connections.
As for multiple power connectors, yes- you can certainly use all the connectors on a rail. The SATA connectors need to be point to point, so as long as you have a cable for each drive going to their own port, you'll be fine and they should show up in the BIOS (as long as they aren't defective).

Stand by for pictures.

 

[JIB271]

Are you referring to multiple power connections on the same cable? Because SATA cables are point to point only, not like the old IDE ribbon cables that could take 2-3 drives on a rail. The power connector is the wider plug of the two connections.
As for multiple power connectors, yes- you can certainly use all the connectors on a rail. The SATA connectors need to be point to point, so as long as you have a cable for each drive going to their own port, you'll be fine and they should show up in the BIOS (as long as they aren't defective).

http://imgur.com/a/Sj9xC

Ok so the first image is my SSD Card with the unplugged black L shaped cable.
The second is my HDD which is plugged in totally, and working. The black cable on the left (of the HDD picture) had another port along the same cable that can be plugged into the empty slot on my SSD card. What do?

 

[nukemaster]

Are you referring to multiple power connections on the same cable? Because SATA cables are point to point only, not like the old IDE ribbon cables that could take 2-3 drives on a rail. The power connector is the wider plug of the two connections.
As for multiple power connectors, yes- you can certainly use all the connectors on a rail. The SATA connectors need to be point to point, so as long as you have a cable for each drive going to their own port, you'll be fine and they should show up in the BIOS (as long as they aren't defective).

IDE was limited to 2 devices. One Master and one Slave. SCSI on the other hand could have many more devices.

The power cables from the power supply can be shared, only the DATA cables will need to be individual.

Nand only holds data for so long, but this is the first time I have heard of a drive not even detecting.

If the drive is older(unlikely if it has always been in the computer), it may actually have issues with the new SATA ports. I have seen rare issues causing hard drives to not work on newer or older controllers. They are pretty rare and at least hard drives had a jumper to force a slower speed when needed.

 

[JIB271]

Are you referring to multiple power connections on the same cable? Because SATA cables are point to point only, not like the old IDE ribbon cables that could take 2-3 drives on a rail. The power connector is the wider plug of the two connections.
As for multiple power connectors, yes- you can certainly use all the connectors on a rail. The SATA connectors need to be point to point, so as long as you have a cable for each drive going to their own port, you'll be fine and they should show up in the BIOS (as long as they aren't defective).

IDE was limited to 2 devices. One Master and one Slave. SCSI on the other hand could have many more devices.

The power cables from the power supply can be shared, only the DATA cables will need to be individual.

Nand only holds data for so long, but this is the first time I have heard of a drive not even detecting.

If the drive is older, it may actually have issues with the new SATA ports. I have seen rare issues causing hard drives to not work on newer or older controllers. They are pretty rare and at least hard drives had a jumper to force a slower speed when needed.

If you wouldnt mind looking at the picture, is the data cable the black one or the white one?

 

[Rogue Leader]

Looking at the picture its just missing the power cable, the white data cable is still connected. You can connect another plug from the black power cable that goes to your HDD and it should power up.

 

[nukemaster]

The cable with the small white part is your data cable the power on is the one with the 5 black wires.

You do not happen to have another sata data cable to test with do you?

 

[JIB271]

The cable with the small white part is your data cable the power on is the one with the 5 black wires.

You do not happen to have another sata data cable to test with do you?

No I dont. Where could I get one that would work? What is the likely hood that it is the cable and not the entire SSD card?

 

[nukemaster]

Do you have a CD/DVD/BD drive in the computer? If you do, try using that cable since it should be known to be working,

You should also check the Device manager for the drive because it will not show in Windows as a drive until it is initialized and formatted.

 

[JIB271]

Do you have a CD/DVD/BD drive in the computer? If you do, try using that cable since it should be known to be working,

Dude, youre the bomb. Ill brb =D

 

[Rogue Leader]

The cable with the small white part is your data cable the power on is the one with the 5 black wires.

You do not happen to have another sata data cable to test with do you?

No I dont. Where could I get one that would work? What is the likely hood that it is the cable and not the entire SSD card?

There is a SATA data cable plugged into it already (the white one), just plug in a power plug off of the larger plug thats going to your HDD and you are fine, you don't necessarily need to replace that cable.

 

[nukemaster]

The cable with the small white part is your data cable the power on is the one with the 5 black wires.

You do not happen to have another sata data cable to test with do you?

No I dont. Where could I get one that would work? What is the likely hood that it is the cable and not the entire SSD card?

There is a SATA data cable plugged into it already (the white one), just plug in a power plug off of the larger plug thats going to your HDD and you are fine, you don't necessarily need to replace that cable.

I was guessing it was disconnected for the picture. Please ensure BOTH plugs are on the SSD. It needs power(wide plug with 5 wires in your case) to run and data(thin black cable with the white ends) to communicate with the computer.

 

[JIB271]

The cable with the small white part is your data cable the power on is the one with the 5 black wires.

You do not happen to have another sata data cable to test with do you?

No I dont. Where could I get one that would work? What is the likely hood that it is the cable and not the entire SSD card?

There is a SATA data cable plugged into it already (the white one), just plug in a power plug off of the larger plug thats going to your HDD and you are fine, you don't necessarily need to replace that cable.

I was guessing it was disconnected for the picture. Please ensure BOTH plugs are on the SSD. It needs power(wide plug with 5 wires in your case) to run and data(thin black cable with the white ends) to communicate with the computer.

Hi,
I can confirm that both the data and power cables are not malfunctioning. I took the data cable from my CD drive and plugged it into my SSD drive, while the power was plugged in, and it still wasnt recognized by BIOS.

Do I have to have windows installed on it before it can get recognized by bios or no?

 

[Rogue Leader]

No the Bios should see it. Maybe this is why it was unplugged, because it is dead.

Where did you get the computer from that its like this?

 

[JIB271]

No the Bios should see it. Maybe this is why it was unplugged, because it is dead.

Where did you get the computer from that its like this?

Well I bought all of the components new and had the PC assembled for me, since I had never done anything like this before. So I guess the tech just never plugged it in or something? But that is still weird... why wouldnt BIOS recognize it. Is there a way to tell if it is corrupted or dead?

 

[Rogue Leader]

No the Bios should see it. Maybe this is why it was unplugged, because it is dead.

Where did you get the computer from that its like this?

Well I bought all of the components new and had the PC assembled for me, since I had never done anything like this before. So I guess the tech just never plugged it in or something? But that is still weird... why wouldnt BIOS recognize it. Is there a way to tell if it is corrupted or dead?

If you have known good power and data plugged into it and the BIOS doesn't see it, its dead no question.

You tried checking all the menus for drives and stuff right?

Maybe the guy fried it by accident and just hoped you wouldn't notice (well... I mean he was kinda right).....

 

[JIB271]

No the Bios should see it. Maybe this is why it was unplugged, because it is dead.

Where did you get the computer from that its like this?

Well I bought all of the components new and had the PC assembled for me, since I had never done anything like this before. So I guess the tech just never plugged it in or something? But that is still weird... why wouldnt BIOS recognize it. Is there a way to tell if it is corrupted or dead?

If you have known good power and data plugged into it and the BIOS doesn't see it, its dead no question.

You tried checking all the menus for drives and stuff right?

Maybe the guy fried it by accident and just hoped you wouldn't notice (well... I mean he was kinda right).....

Wow, thats really <mod edit> of him if thats the case. What do you mean 'all the menus'? I went into bios, selected the 'Boot' tab, and went to Boot BBS priority (or whatever its called). The only one listed was the 2TB Hard drive.

<Let's be watching our language in these forums>

 

[Rogue Leader]

No the Bios should see it. Maybe this is why it was unplugged, because it is dead.

Where did you get the computer from that its like this?

Well I bought all of the components new and had the PC assembled for me, since I had never done anything like this before. So I guess the tech just never plugged it in or something? But that is still weird... why wouldnt BIOS recognize it. Is there a way to tell if it is corrupted or dead?

If you have known good power and data plugged into it and the BIOS doesn't see it, its dead no question.

You tried checking all the menus for drives and stuff right?

Maybe the guy fried it by accident and just hoped you wouldn't notice (well... I mean he was kinda right).....

Wow, thats really <mod edit> of him if thats the case. What do you mean 'all the menus'? I went into bios, selected the 'Boot' tab, and went to Boot BBS priority (or whatever its called). The only one listed was the 2TB Hard drive.

There are a few other places it could show up, such as under peripherals, or devices (depending on your BIOS). Now because there is nothing installed on it you can't actually boot from it, however if it isn't even selectable in the boot menu, then its likely its not even working.

 

[JIB271]

No the Bios should see it. Maybe this is why it was unplugged, because it is dead.

Where did you get the computer from that its like this?

Well I bought all of the components new and had the PC assembled for me, since I had never done anything like this before. So I guess the tech just never plugged it in or something? But that is still weird... why wouldnt BIOS recognize it. Is there a way to tell if it is corrupted or dead?

If you have known good power and data plugged into it and the BIOS doesn't see it, its dead no question.

You tried checking all the menus for drives and stuff right?

Maybe the guy fried it by accident and just hoped you wouldn't notice (well... I mean he was kinda right).....

Wow, thats really <mod edit> of him if thats the case. What do you mean 'all the menus'? I went into bios, selected the 'Boot' tab, and went to Boot BBS priority (or whatever its called). The only one listed was the 2TB Hard drive.

There are a few other places it could show up, such as under peripherals, or devices (depending on your BIOS). Now because there is nothing installed on it you can't actually boot from it, however if it isn't even selectable in the boot menu, then its likely its not even working.

Ok, well thanks for all your help anyway!!! Ill be sure to make a new post if I have any questions regarding the card that I am going to get (probably the samsung evo 250g)

Thanks All!!

 

[Rogue Leader]

I suggest poking around the BIOS just in case you can find it somewhere else in there, but like I said, its very doubtful if its not even selectable in Boot.

 

[nukemaster]

Well it sucks to have a dead SSD in the system.

As said it should show up in the bios without any OS installed.

I have seen some boards that do show it in other places, but if it is not under hdd priority for startup, it may be dead.

 

[JIB271]

Well it sucks to have a dead SSD in the system.

As said it should show up in the bios without any OS installed.

I have seen some boards that do show it in other places, but if it is not under hdd priority for startup, it may be dead.

Thanks for the reply.
I just ordered a new SSD card - Samsung Evo 250gb.

So question. If I wanted this card to be just my boot drive where I would run Windows 10, and stuff like league, and steam and such, how would I migrate my Windows 10 to the SSD card without buying a windows cd? My current boot drive is a 2 TB HDD that has all of my stuff on it. Would there be a way to do all of my booting from my SSD card but be able to access and store stuff on my 2 TB HDD?