Two SATA won't work together? different? Stuck, please help!

Lemur said:

if you wanted to pursue this further, what is the name and model # of your mobo?

Also, the BIOS are Phoenix Tech... what should i do?

i believe you all, but its hard to believe its a BIOS problem. My bios are up to date (latest, 2009) and Ive had two SATA hard drives in here for a long time. is it something to do with SATA1 SATA2? My friend was telling me about the different "speeds" of SATA drives. could this be an issue?

There shouldn't ever be an issue with using differing SATA drives of differing speeds. SATA ports or their own channels, so there's no confliction. Have you checked if the laptop supports a drive that large, or if that new drive has an increased power draw that the laptop can't handle?

now that's something... as far as the size of the drive, my friend has a 750gb internal, and have found nothing after searching regarding size limitations. as far as power goes... the new one is 0.85A and my old one(s) are 0.48A.

its a pretty beastly laptop, though - and im using it on the external USB connection. think that could be the issue??

Now you're confusing me even more. Do you mean the 640 GB drive works fine when connected externally, but not when connected internally?

DeaconFrost said:

Now you're confusing me even more. Do you mean the 640 GB drive works fine when connected externally, but not when connected internally?

sorry bud. i know it was confusing, but like in the original post, i tried to say the 640gb works FINE when connected externally. but here is the setup.

options:

a) 640 internal + 120 internal = no workie
b) 640 external + 120 internal = success.
c) 640 by itself internally = success

see what i mean? the 640 works great right now as an external hdd, but when i put it in the bay, no go.

but the weird thing is, for the past however many months ive had two hdd's, one in each bay (both 120gb) and its worked fine...

My guess then is, given the power draw of the new drive...having two internally may be more than it can handle. I know it doesn't seem like much, but laptops are meant to have precise power draws to save on battery power. However, that is just a guess.

If it was me, I'd probably just stick to using the 640 by itself then.

that sounds like the most practical and reasonable response. im just going to make an image of my OS now and plop it over to the 640. thanks so much everyone for your help :)

found the solution and forgot to post the answer.

i needed a simple jumper on the sata HDD. :) to drop the speed down :) works like a charm now, no lag or anything.