[SOLVED] Sata HDD not detected in BIOS (all SATA ports are enabled)

[ThijsG]

Hi, I built my first PC and almost everything works as it should, except my Toshiba X300 5TB Sata HDD. I plugged it into the PSU and into the motherboard (Gigabyte Aorus Z390 PRO WIFI) using the cables that came with it, so it should work just fine. There are 6 SATA ports on the motherboard and all of them are enabled in BIOS. They just don't detect the HDD. What's wrong? The motherboard does detect my RTX 2070 and M.2 SSD 1 TB.

I hope someone knows the answer, thanks in advance for replying
I will give 'Best Answer' to the golden tip lol

 

[Barty1884]

Is your M.2 installed in slot M2A or M2M?

Do you have a PCIe or SATA-based M.2?

Refer page #20 of the manual:

https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/Z390-AORUS-PRO-WIFI-rev-10#support-manual

If you have a SATA-based SSD in M2A, you lose SATA port #1, regardless of whether the port is "enabled" in the BIOS.

If you have a SATA or NVMe SSD in M2M, you lose SATA ports #4 & #5 - again, regardless of the enabled/disabled status in the BIOS.

 

[ThijsG]

Is your M.2 installed in slot M2A or M2M?

Do you have a PCIe or SATA-based M.2?

Refer page #20 of the manual:

https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/Z390-AORUS-PRO-WIFI-rev-10#support-manual

If you have a SATA-based SSD in M2A, you lose SATA port #1, regardless of whether the port is "enabled" in the BIOS.

If you have a SATA or NVMe SSD in M2M, you lose SATA ports #4 & #5 - again, regardless of the enabled/disabled status in the BIOS.

Whooaaaa thank you so much! I have a NVMe SSD in M2M, so port 4 and 5 are disabled, and guess what; I used port 5 hehe. The others were covered behind my GPU and I read somewhere it shouldn't matter, so I didn't try! Very happy with your reply, you're a hero lol, thanks a lot

 

[Barty1884]

Whooaaaa thank you so much! I have a NVMe SSD in M2M, so port 4 and 5 are disabled, and guess what; I used port 5 hehe. The others were covered behind my GPU and I read somewhere it shouldn't matter, so I didn't try! Very happy with your reply, you're a hero lol, thanks a lot

M2M is only Gen3 x2, so I'd highly recommend moving the NVMe SSD to M2A:

1 x M.2 connector (Socket 3, M key, type 2242/2260/2280/22110 SATA and PCIe x4/x2 SSD support) (M2A)

1. 1 x M.2 connector (Socket 3, M key, type 2242/2260/2280 SATA and PCIe x4/x2 SSD support) (M2M)

https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/Z390-AORUS-PRO-WIFI-rev-10#sp

 

[ThijsG]

M2M is only Gen3 x2, so I'd highly recommend moving the NVMe SSD to M2A:

https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/Z390-AORUS-PRO-WIFI-rev-10#sp

I don't really understand the difference, but I will check it out. Initially I wanted to use M2A but I read somewhere I might be better to use M2M since the GPU will blow less heat in this direction. Not sure if that makes any sense. I better move the card as you say I guess, thanks again.

 

[Barty1884]

All else being equal, that's not a bad plan.
In this scenario though, the max (theoretically) available bandwidth is ~half in the M2M slot opposed to the M2A.

 

[ThijsG]

All else being equal, that's not a bad plan.
In this scenario though, the max (theoretically) available bandwidth is ~half in the M2M slot opposed to the M2A.

Ahh I see, it would be a shame to not fully unlock the potential of the components, thanks!