Hi Osprey, Thanks for your response. Just to make sure I understand correctly... the SATA controller for HDD on my MB is a SATA 3 controller and the one for ODD is only a SATA 2 controller?
Aside from any speed / bandwidth concerns, will my MB complain about finding a HDD being connected to the one remaining ODD designated SATA port? IIRC another forum member posted that his secondary HDD was detected (Windows? BIOS? - not sure) as a ODD an not accessible?
The main reason I am asking is that if HDD on ODD designated SATA port would cause issues, I might adjust my plans to 1x Hybrid HHD instead of 1x SSD and 1x HDD.
I have a very strange situation here with a brand new Inspiron 3847 and an equally new Samsung EVO 256 Gb SSD (SATA 3).
When I connect the SSD (easily capable of SATA 3 as we know) to a SATA 2 port (those are the two SATA-connectors marked as ODD1 and ODD2 on the MB), the SSD is detected. Samsung Magician then correctly informs me of the fact that the SSD is now in SATA 2 mode, and is best connected to a SATA 3.
However, when I connect the Sammy SSD to ANY one of the HDD1 or HDD2 ports, it does not get detected by the BIOS nor by Windows 10 when connected to any of the SATA 3 ports.
Also tried removing the HDD connector, thus ONLY connecting the SSD to either of the SATA 3 enabled ports, but also in that configuration, the SSD does NOT get detected in the BIOS.
BIOS Firmware is fully up to date, SSD firmware is up to date (Checked it when having it connected to the SATA 2 ODD1/ODD2 port), the original 2TB HDD works fine when connected to either of the two SATA 3 ports, but the Samsung EVO SSD is not found in any way through SATA 3.
Now I may have an escape route, since I'm waiting for the delivery of a RAID-card/controller (HighPoint/RocketRaid 640L) for the PCIE-slot, which is capable of handling a maximum of 4 SATA 3 drives. Idea is to place two HDD's in RAID 1 mode, and connect the SSD to the 3rd SATA 3 connector on the new card, and hoping it will all work in SATA 3 mode that way...
Anyone experienced this Sammy SSD / SATA 3 port problem not working on the Inspiron 3847 before ?
I'll let you all know in case I find a reason , resolution or workaround for this somewhat strange issue that would be the very last I would have expected (come on DELL, it's 2016 !).
Important Update (and solution) to my post from yesterday:
I resolved the issue by simply replacing the SATA cable. Did not expect that to make the difference, but it did !
Doing that ensured that the SSD could now be connected to the HDD1 (SATA 600/6 Gb/s compatible) SATA-connector on the MB and is recognized in that configuration by both the BIOS as well as Windows 10, and is running fine right to this point.
Did a performance check using Samsung Magician afterwards, and where I previously got Reads/Writes around 270-280 MB/s (which is in line with speeds you get when connected to one of the SATA2 / 300 ports named ODD1 and ODD2), I now get approx. double the speed (520-545 Mb/s) that SATA 3 /600 offers.
Hoping this might help anyone out there having the same issue.
To answer your question (and after actual findings on my behalf, see my last post from today in this same thead):
- The ports on the MB marked as ODD1 and ODD2 are both SATA 2. You can connect ANY SATA compatible HDD or SDD to those, but speeds will always be limited to 300 MB/s (SATA 2), regardless of how fast your SSD is.
- The ports marked as HDD1 and HDD2 are both SATA 3. Again, you can connect ANY HDD or SSD, but speeds can go as high as a whopping 600 Mb/s (SATA 3), although that ONLY makes sense when you connect a SATA 3 capable SSD (like my Samsung 850 EVO 256 Gb). Mechanical HDD's are simply not able to achieve that speed, only SSD's are.
- I also would like to add another reminder that you need to use the right ( SATA 3 / 6 Gb/s compatible) SATA-cable as well, otherwise the SSD might not get recognized by BIOS nor Windows (as I now learned). If you're short on available SATA cables (and you have a non-compatible SATA-cable) like in my situation, you might try swapping the cable connected to the SSD with one of the cables connected to the Optical Disk Drive or the built-in HDD. That's how I found out using a non-compatible cable was the culprit.
osprey4
4 Operator
•
34.2K Posts
0
January 12th, 2016 17:00
Hi Patrick,
Putting one of your HDDs on the ODD port will not limit its speed. The SATA 3 speeds or ports 0 and 1 are only important for the SSD.
moreHDD
3 Posts
0
January 17th, 2016 17:00
Hi Osprey, Thanks for your response. Just to make sure I understand correctly... the SATA controller for HDD on my MB is a SATA 3 controller and the one for ODD is only a SATA 2 controller?
Aside from any speed / bandwidth concerns, will my MB complain about finding a HDD being connected to the one remaining ODD designated SATA port? IIRC another forum member posted that his secondary HDD was detected (Windows? BIOS? - not sure) as a ODD an not accessible?
The main reason I am asking is that if HDD on ODD designated SATA port would cause issues, I might adjust my plans to 1x Hybrid HHD instead of 1x SSD and 1x HDD.
Thanks again, Patrick
mroset
1 Rookie
•
52 Posts
0
February 5th, 2016 07:00
I have a very strange situation here with a brand new Inspiron 3847 and an equally new Samsung EVO 256 Gb SSD (SATA 3).
When I connect the SSD (easily capable of SATA 3 as we know) to a SATA 2 port (those are the two SATA-connectors marked as ODD1 and ODD2 on the MB), the SSD is detected. Samsung Magician then correctly informs me of the fact that the SSD is now in SATA 2 mode, and is best connected to a SATA 3.
However, when I connect the Sammy SSD to ANY one of the HDD1 or HDD2 ports, it does not get detected by the BIOS nor by Windows 10 when connected to any of the SATA 3 ports.
Also tried removing the HDD connector, thus ONLY connecting the SSD to either of the SATA 3 enabled ports, but also in that configuration, the SSD does NOT get detected in the BIOS.
BIOS Firmware is fully up to date, SSD firmware is up to date (Checked it when having it connected to the SATA 2 ODD1/ODD2 port), the original 2TB HDD works fine when connected to either of the two SATA 3 ports, but the Samsung EVO SSD is not found in any way through SATA 3.
Now I may have an escape route, since I'm waiting for the delivery of a RAID-card/controller (HighPoint/RocketRaid 640L) for the PCIE-slot, which is capable of handling a maximum of 4 SATA 3 drives. Idea is to place two HDD's in RAID 1 mode, and connect the SSD to the 3rd SATA 3 connector on the new card, and hoping it will all work in SATA 3 mode that way...
Anyone experienced this Sammy SSD / SATA 3 port problem not working on the Inspiron 3847 before ?
I'll let you all know in case I find a reason , resolution or workaround for this somewhat strange issue that would be the very last I would have expected (come on DELL, it's 2016 !).
mroset
1 Rookie
•
52 Posts
0
February 6th, 2016 08:00
Important Update (and solution) to my post from yesterday:
I resolved the issue by simply replacing the SATA cable. Did not expect that to make the difference, but it did !
Doing that ensured that the SSD could now be connected to the HDD1 (SATA 600/6 Gb/s compatible) SATA-connector on the MB and is recognized in that configuration by both the BIOS as well as Windows 10, and is running fine right to this point.
Did a performance check using Samsung Magician afterwards, and where I previously got Reads/Writes around 270-280 MB/s (which is in line with speeds you get when connected to one of the SATA2 / 300 ports named ODD1 and ODD2), I now get approx. double the speed (520-545 Mb/s) that SATA 3 /600 offers.
Hoping this might help anyone out there having the same issue.
mroset
1 Rookie
•
52 Posts
0
February 6th, 2016 08:00
Hello Patrick,
To answer your question (and after actual findings on my behalf, see my last post from today in this same thead):
- The ports on the MB marked as ODD1 and ODD2 are both SATA 2. You can connect ANY SATA compatible HDD or SDD to those, but speeds will always be limited to 300 MB/s (SATA 2), regardless of how fast your SSD is.
- The ports marked as HDD1 and HDD2 are both SATA 3. Again, you can connect ANY HDD or SSD, but speeds can go as high as a whopping 600 Mb/s (SATA 3), although that ONLY makes sense when you connect a SATA 3 capable SSD (like my Samsung 850 EVO 256 Gb). Mechanical HDD's are simply not able to achieve that speed, only SSD's are.
- I also would like to add another reminder that you need to use the right ( SATA 3 / 6 Gb/s compatible) SATA-cable as well, otherwise the SSD might not get recognized by BIOS nor Windows (as I now learned). If you're short on available SATA cables (and you have a non-compatible SATA-cable) like in my situation, you might try swapping the cable connected to the SSD with one of the cables connected to the Optical Disk Drive or the built-in HDD. That's how I found out using a non-compatible cable was the culprit.