Sata Connectors Slots Problem!

[DaYiM]

Hello,
I have ASUS Rampage IV Formula MotherBoard, also i have installed 1x DVD, 1x BluRay, 1x HDD and 1x SSD using Sata Cables, and i have 4 available slots for HardDisk & 2 for DVD in my case, and by the way i took all the parts & the case to workshop to gather the parts all together so i only know the basics about hardware so help me out. Today i wanted to take out three of my externals HDD and but them in my case,

( what is the Large one name, And the Small one name )
I have found the large ones, but the small ones i didn’t find them inside the case, i searched the motherboard box & found it:-

but i was shocked that there was only two of this slots available on my motherboard:-

Some one told me that i can connect PCI Express to my motherboard so that it would give
me extra 2 or 4 of these small slots?
What is this PCI Express chip & can i connect it to my MotherBoard?
Also i wanted to ask Does my motherboard only have 8 of this small slots?

 

[Maxx_Power]

The larger one is your power cable from the Power Supply Unit.

 

[Maxx_Power]

Look at your power supply, there should be some of those cables that attach into the "larger" one of the SATA port side.

 

[DaYiM]

I know that i have the large ones and it's ready,
but the problem is with the small ones.

 

[Maxx_Power]

You need more than 8 ports of SATA ? Those are SATA ports. Serial ATA ports.

Those red ports on your motherboard you showed a picture of are for booting devices, black ones for non-boot.

 

[Maxx_Power]

Well if you NEED more than 8 SATA ports on one computer, you need to install a PCI-E to SATA adapter card. This is not a common scenario since not a lot of people use all 8 ports. You may also have ESATA ports on the back, so you an use an external SATA enclosure, or USB 3.0.

 

[DaYiM]

Serial ATA ports: the large ones or the small ones? and what is the other one called?
Also regarding the Boot & Non-Boot:-

Would you please send me a picture of PCI-E to SATA adapter card,
because i didn’t find any specific internal parts with this name!
Also i have other 3 externals so i would really like to put the forth inside the case!

 

[Maxx_Power]

Serial ATA ports: the large ones or the small ones? and what is the other one called?
Also regarding the Boot & Non-Boot:-http://img40.imageshack.us/img40/7404/screenshot20120725at125.png
Would you please send me a picture of PCI-E to SATA adapter card,
because i didn’t find any specific internal parts with this name!
Also i have other 3 externals so i would really like to put the forth inside the case!

Something like this:

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816115114

I found it on Newegg by using the keywords "PCI-E to SATA". This was one of the cards that had 4 ports internally.

 

[DaYiM]

Serial ATA ports: the large ones or the small ones? and what is the other one called?
What is the differences between Boot & Non-Boot thingy?
How to connect this RAID card on my MotherBoard?

 

[Maxx_Power]

Serial ATA ports: the large ones or the small ones? and what is the other one called?
What is the differences between Boot & Non-Boot thingy?
How to connect this RAID card on my MotherBoard?

Serial ATA ports are the small ones based on your picture you showed on the top. I don't know what you mean by the OTHER ONE. The only other port on your SSD you showed at the top of the thread is the power port. SATA Power. That one doesn't connect to the motherboard, it connects to your power supply.

The difference between the black and red ports on your motherboard is that the red ones are the ports the BIOS looks for a booting MBR after the time of POST (power on self test). The black ones are just used for storage. If you want your drive to be bootable, usually you pick the red ones. This is usually what the difference in color means on your SATA ports.

The RAID card connects to your PCI-E expansion slot. Any one of them will do.

 

[Maxx_Power]

http://www.smpspowersupply.com/Serial-ata-connector.GIF

is an image of the SATA (Serial ATA abbreviated) connector.

 

[Maxx_Power]

http://murfsgarage.cybertechhelp.com/images/pcislots.jpg

Is a picture of modern PC slots with both PCI-E full 16 lanes and PCI-E 1 lane and PCI. Your SATA controller will likely plug into the PCI-E 1 lane if the connector is short, or one of your 16 lane PCI-E slots if the connector is long.

 

[DaYiM]

Thaaaaank you alot,
i will order this part, but one more question please,
but is there any part much powerful that will last
with HeavyDuty & continus usage?

 

[Maxx_Power]

Thaaaaank you alot,
i will order this part, but one more question please,
but is there any part much powerful that will last
with HeavyDuty & continus usage?

If you want something with a good reliability (lasts with usage), you will have trouble finding something new. New parts are not known for their reliability because they simply have not been around for long enough. Sometimes, certain things are designed with reliability in the mind of the engineers such as Western Digital Red Hard Drives, the Seagate Constellation hard drives (both for NAS use, the seagate can also be used in servers), or the ASUS Sabertooth motherboards. You can usually gauge what the manufacturer feels about the reliability of their products by looking at the warranty. The longer the warranty, usually the more reliable the part.

As far as SATA controllers go (either onboard and add on cards), they are pretty reliable. They rarely fail. Storage problems are usually caused by dying Hard Drives, corroded cables, and not usually the controllers.

 

[DaYiM]

Hello again,
i wanted to ask since my motherboard support PCI-Express 3.0,
i asked around and found that 3.0 is faster than 2.0, but in NewEgg
site i have only found 2.0, Why is that or is 3.0 not public enough????

Also how to confirm that this part is installable on my motherboard:-
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816115077

 

[Maxx_Power]

Hello again,
i wanted to ask since my motherboard support PCI-Express 3.0,
i asked around and found that 3.0 is faster than 2.0, but in NewEgg
site i have only found 2.0, Why is that or is 3.0 not public enough????

Also how to confirm that this part is installable on my motherboard:-
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816115077

PCI-Express 3.0 is backwards compatible with 2.x and 1.x series. It is a new standard which mostly decreases the error correction overhead to make speed gains. So far, only a few video cards support this.

Your card will fit into a 16x slot on your motherboard you pointed out earlier. See this article:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PCI_Express

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