# Can I get another hard drive if I only have 2 sata ports on my motherboard?



## alexjb

Hello  I currently have a 120gb ocz agility 3 SSD and a DVD-RW plugged into my motherboard, but my motherboard only has 2 Sata ports and Sata cables, is there any way I can get more ports? As I really need more storage space, thanks!


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## johnb35

A pci or pciexpress sata controller card.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...card&name=2 x SATA II&Order=PRICE&Pagesize=20

That link is for pci express.  That one gives you an extra 2 ports.


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## alexjb

johnb35 said:


> A pci or pciexpress sata controller card.
> 
> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...card&name=2 x SATA II&Order=PRICE&Pagesize=20
> 
> That link is for pci express.  That one gives you an extra 2 ports.



thank you!  I'll have to get one of these, do they come with a Sata cable or do I buy one of them separately ? thank you


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## johnb35

They will not come with sata cables, you will need to buy them separately.


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## alexjb

johnb35 said:


> They will not come with sata cables, you will need to buy them separately.



thank you  are they all the same or is there high speed versions?


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## johnb35

Just look at the specs of each cable for wherever you plan on buying them.  Some are sata 1, some are sata 2 and some are sata 3.


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## spirit

Your board has more than two SATA ports. It has two SATA 6GB/s ports, but it should have several SATA 3GB/s ports too in addition to the two 6GB/s ports your board has. You can plug your hard drive and optical drive (that's your DVD drive) into the 3GB/s ports and keep your SSD plugged into one of the 6GB/s ports.

The white ports are 6GB/s and are for your SSD, and the black ones are 3GB/s and are for optical drives and hard drives.

There's no need to buy any extra cards if your board already has the ports you need.


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## johnb35

Yeah, if its the Z77A-G43 then you have 2 Sata 3 ports and 4 sata 2 ports.  I guess I should have asked what board you had.


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## alexjb

oh that's great news! thanks!  I thought there was only 2, so I guess the Sata 3 ports are faster? does it make a difference for a DVD-RW drive? thanks!


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## johnb35

No it won't.  You can connect dvd drives to either one and it will still perform the same as a dvd drive is actually slower than a hard drive.


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## alexjb

johnb35 said:


> No it won't.  You can connect dvd drives to either one and it will still perform the same as a dvd drive is actually slower than a hard drive.



that's great thanks! that saves me some money yay  thank you I am going to buy an ssd hopefully this week


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