Member Avatar for dunstkunst

Hi, not sure where best to post this, since it concerns both a mobo & HDD

I would like to know if this HDD: Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 1Tb

http://www.seagate.com/ww/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=7227b5b72fbce110VgnVCM100000f5ee0a0aRCRD


will work on my
Biostar P4M80-M4 motherboard.

I know it has 2 SATA ports, but to be on the safe side i was wondering if other compatibility issues could appear, since it's an older mobo.

Thanks.

Edited by dunstkunst because: n/a
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Dani AI

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Quick, practical add‑on following 's follow‑up and 's troubleshooting: a few non‑obvious notes and a compact checklist to save time and avoid surprises after installing a large spinner.

Format and initial checks — a full format scans the entire platter for bad sectors and can take hours on multi‑hundred‑gig drives; a quick format only recreates filesystem metadata and finishes in minutes. For a brand‑new retail drive a quick format is usually fine; run a full surface/bad‑sector check only if the drive is used, was handled roughly, or shows strange behavior. After formatting, run the drive maker’s diagnostics and enable a SMART monitor to catch early problems.

Capacity and partitioning — the OS reports capacity in GiB, while manufacturers advertise decimal TB, so ~931 GiB shown for a “1 TB” disk is normal. For disks larger than 2 TB, MBR partitioning and legacy BIOS will limit usable space; GPT + UEFI or a third‑party controller is required to access the full size. On older motherboards, check the manual/BIOS notes if the drive’s capacity looks truncated; a BIOS update or a PCI(e) SATA controller can resolve detection limits.

Power, adapters and troubleshooting — cheap adapters or marginal PSU rails can cause no‑spin or intermittent issues, so use a known‑good adapter and power cable if the drive behaves oddly. If the drive isn’t detected: try a different data cable and port, try another power connector, test the drive on a different machine, and run the vendor diagnostic utility.

Quick checklist

  • Initialize disk (MBR vs GPT) and choose quick vs full format appropriately.
  • Run manufacturer diagnostics and enable SMART monitoring.
  • Use quality power cabling; swap cable/port if problems appear.
  • Keep regular backups.

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Member Avatar for Rik_

The mobo is SATA1 and the drive is SATA2. For them to work together you will have to make sure that the drive has a SATA1 jumper setting. If it doesn't, it won't work!

SATA1 works at 150mb/s
SATA2 works at 300mb/s

Member Avatar for dunstkunst

Thanks for the reply. I have another question though:

My system has MOLEX power connectors. Can I use them for this HDD? Or will I have to buy some sort of adapter? If I do, will it affect the HDD's performance?

Thanks again.

Member Avatar for Rik_

You will need molex to sata adapters and they have no effect on performance at all!

Some drives have both molex and sata power on them. If you get one like that, connect either molex or sata power, NOT BOTH!

Member Avatar for dunstkunst

Well I went ahead and bought the HDD, got an adapter, and it works fine!
Thanks for the help !

Member Avatar for Rik_

Good news. Can you see the full capacity of the drive tho?

Member Avatar for dunstkunst

Yes, around 930 Gbs. Took 2 hours to format :))

Member Avatar for Rik_

Cool! :)

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