Connect hard drive connections correctly - how it works
If you install new hard disks in your desktop PC, you must connect the existing connections correctly. We show you what you need to consider for which connection.
Standard: Connect the SATA hard disk correctly
If you open a relatively new PC, you will always find hard drives in SATA design.
- You need to connect a power and data cable to the SATA hard drive. Otherwise you do not have to make any further settings.
- In the picture you can see the wider power connector (15 pins) on the left and the data cable (7 pins) on the right. You cannot insert either of the two cables into the wrong connector, as they are angled on the opposite sides (so-called L-type connector).
- So plug the data cable coming from the mainboard into the right connector and the power cable from the power supply into the left connector. You are now done with the configuration, since with SATA it is not possible to hang several devices on one cable (see IDE mode).
- You then have to activate the hard drive in the computer management. You can also partition the hard disk here.
Obsolete: Install IDE or ATA / ATAPI hard disk
In contrast to SATA, the older IDE standard has an additional trick. Up to two devices can hang on one cable. Therefore there are other pins besides power and data lines on which a small jumper (marked in the picture) is set. It connects two pins each.
- A diagram is printed on your hard disk, which pins you have to connect in order to set up your disk as either "Master" or "Slave". Example: A hard disk with the operating system and a DVD burner are connected to the same IDE cable, in this configuration you set the jumper for the hard disk to "Master" and for the burner to "Slave".
- If you have set the jumper correctly, you only need to insert the power plug (four-pin) and the wide data cable correctly. You can't go wrong here either, the data cable protrudes slightly in the middle on one side so that you cannot insert it the wrong way round. Nevertheless, be careful not to bend pins.
- If you only want to connect one hard disk to a cable with two connections, always choose the last connection at the end of the data cable. Otherwise reflections can impair the quality of the data transmission.
In the next practical tip, we will tell you how to retrofit an eSATA connection on your PC.