I'm in a bit of a bind here and could really use some advice. I recently built a new PC with an ASUS B650E Max motherboard and installed a 2 TB M.2 SSD as the boot drive. After setting up Windows on that drive, I connected my old storage drives -- a 500 GB SSD and two 1 TB WD Blue HDDs. The SSD got recognized without a hitch, but the HDDs didn't show up at all. I've tried various things: new SATA data cables, different power connections from the PSU (a SeaSonic CORE GX-750 ATX3 750 W), and switched around PCIe ports. I've also checked for Windows updates, BIOS updates, and installed the latest chipset drivers. I'm stumped and could use some help!
3 Answers
Have you checked if the drives are showing up in Windows Disk Management? Sometimes they need to be initialized or assigned a letter to appear in File Explorer.
Just a thought, did you happen to use any modular power cables that weren't originally bundled with your PSU? That’s a common issue. SATA SSDs usually only need the 5V connection, while HDDs require the full 12V, and using incompatible cables can fry them. Make sure everything is connected with the cables that came with the PSU.
Yeah, I did use some cables that didn't come with the PSU at first. I switched to the right ones, but it still didn't work. Could they both have fried because of that?
You might want to try swapping the SATA ports between one of the HDDs and the working SSD. Sometimes certain motherboard ports can conflict with M.2 drives. Check your motherboard manual too; it may indicate which SATA ports are disabled when an M.2 drive is in use.
I'll give that a try! Thanks for the suggestion!
Nope, they aren't showing up in Disk Management or in the BIOS.