Ok. I got the HDD. 2 Qusetions...

[Mike..]

It's a Western Digital SATA 300 250 GB HDD. 2 questions.

1. It has an option to place a jumper to enable 150 MB/s data transfer speed. Should I enable it or leave it alone? Currently it will be the only HDD in the new system.

2. Although it came with it's own SATA connector, It did not come with a power connector. It doesn't have a molex plug. It looks kind of like the SATA connector. My MOBO came with SATA connectors. Does one of the ones provided with the MOBO need to be used, or are none of these needed other than the connection between the MOBO and HDD?



Mike

[NickN]

Mike, the tower power supply has the power connector for the drive and the MB came with the cables... now please get into the motherboard manual and read about the SATA ports. Find out if ALL of the ports are indeed SATA300 or if only2 of them are. Some motherboards only have 1 or 2 SATA 300 ports, on others all ports are the 300 spec.

You do NOT want to switch the drive to SATA150, thats slower. Your drive is SATA III but it will run at SATA150 or SATAII speed if the motherboard controller is not SATA300

You must confirm the ports on the motherboard are SATA300 and if not, which ones are, and use those for the drive so you get their full ability.

[NickN]

There is a possibility the PSU does not have SATA drive power plugs. If its a cheap one it may not but today most PSU's have the power plug for 2 SATA drives. My PC Power and Cooling PSU provides 8 of them. They are different from a standard molex.. they are flat and have sort of an L shape to them like the SATA cables but larger.


If the PSU does not have the SATA plug you will have to purchase an adapter to go from molex to SATA

[Mike..]

Roger that Nick. wasn't going any further till I heard from you. Checking into it now. Thanks!



Mike

[Mike..]

PSU has a set of 4 power connectors. Good there. Checking the MOBO manuel for what is and isn't SATA III. Thanks again!


Mike

[NickN]

If you have any problems let me know and I will D/L the manual and look at it

[Mike..]

Page 2-27 of my ASUS P5N32-E SLI shows 6 SATA slots numbered SATA 1-6. My first guess is to connect the only drive I have to SATA 1 Port. The ports are stacked on top of one another in a 2 by 2 cofig and 3 across. Not 100% sure it matters what port of the 6 I put it in as it will be the only HDD for now. There again logically to me I would connect it to port 1 leaving 5 more SATAS to play with later. Don't no if you have seen the Antec 900 case but there is room in here for 6 HDDS. Right now when I get the final connect on the HDD and neaten up all the excess wireing this should be quite a breezy case. 2 120's in the front, 1 120 in the rear, 1 on the CPU, 1 on the Vid card, another 120 on the side panel, and a massive 200 on the top. Oh and the intake/outake fans on the PSU. The PSU has a turbo fan switch on it. Not sure I'll need it but it is there if I do.


Mike