How to connect hard drive?

[xmodex]

Building pc for first time  ; d

 

How do i connect hard drive daym it has 3 connectors (i think) 

 

I have toshiba 3tb and this is the only image i could find

 

Idk if you can see clearly but i think those are 3 connectors, anyone know this how to connect it properly? as theres no instruction on it lmao maybe im just newbie

[Guest]

Left is SATA Power (will be a connector on your PSU), then data (the cable that came with your mobo, connects from the HDD to the mobo) and the right most you don't have to worry about in this day and age. 

 

Spoiler

 

SATA Power:

 

Data:

 

 

 

 

[Guest]

3 minutes ago, xmodex said:

Building pc for first time  ; d

 

How do i connect hard drive daym it has 3 connectors (i think) 

 

I have toshiba 3tb and this is the only image i could find

 

Idk if you can see clearly but i think those are 3 connectors, anyone know this how to connect it properly? as theres no instruction on it lmao maybe im just newbie

you just need to know sata power, and sata data. 

Sata is the name of the plug. Just as your computer has a USB plug, and your phone has a micro or mini USB, or lightning connector, it's just the name. 

Your power supply SHOULD (may not depending how old it is) have a sata power connector. It will be shaped like an "L"

 

Your motherboard MAY come with a Sata data cable. It's smaller than the power cable. You plug one end into the HDD and the other into any one (It doesn't matter) connector on your motherboard that says SATA. If the motherboard is even relatively new it should be fine. If it's older it's a different type of sata but we're talking pretty old stuff. 
 

my 2009 Motherboard has the right sata so you shouldn't have to worry. 

I think that's all I can say. Youtube videos are a great way to learn how to build a PC. Search things like "How to install a hard drive to a computer" or "How to build a PC" 

I like watching Newegg's channel on how to build PCs. I believe linus or techquickie has a video or 2 on actually building PCs, and more in general stuff, like what tools to get. 

[mariushm]

To the right of the sata connector on the hard drive (the narrow one) there are sometimes some pins which you don't really have to mess with, and there's no connector to plug into that one. 

Basically, some hard drive have those pins there for compatibility reasons...

For example, you may place a jumper between two of those pins to make the hard drive show up as a 2 TB hard drive, if your computer is an older one which has a BIOS that isn't capable of recognizing or working with hard drives larger than 2 TB.  If there's no BIOS update for that computer, or if for some reasons you really can't change the motherboard (maybe you licensed some very expensive software that's tied to the motherboard and cpu), it may be preferable to use just 2 TB of the 3TB, instead of having to wait some more time or buy a smaller hard drive.

Another example... even though SATA versions are supposed to be backwards compatible, some of the first SATA controllers (on motherboards) didn't really like to detect or work with SATA 2 or SATA 3 hard drives connected to them. So some hard drives have a couple of pins that could be shorted using a jumper to make the hard drive be detected as older SATA drive. The hard drive would talk to motherboard saying it's a SATA 1 hard drive, with maximum speeds of 150 MB/s and everybody would be happy. 

 

Anyway... like the others above said, you only need one power cable which comes from the power supply (and is wide and shaped like a L so you can't plug it the wrong way) and one SATA cable that goes from motherboard connector to the smaller connector to the right of the power connector on your hard drive. It's also keyed so you can't insert it the wrong way.