Member Avatar for Danniboy

Hi Guys,

I am about to build a new PC from scratch, BUT want to use my SATA II Harddrive (which is 1.5TB)

Looking at the latest tech - SSD's seem to be the way to go, and my thinking is to buy one of those for the OS and the 1.5TB for all my storage of music etc.

What I dont know is.. can I use a solid state drive in conjunction with a SATA II type harddrive, and is it easy to do if so?


Would appreciate any comments you might have as to whether or not its possible!

Many thanks :)

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by flightsjabri

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Short answer: yes — an SSD and your 1.5 TB SATA drive will work together without any special adapters. SSDs use the same SATA connector and are backwards-compatible with SATA II ports; the only practical difference is link speed (SATA II ≈ 3 Gbps, SATA III ≈ 6 Gbps), so a SATA III SSD in a SATA II port will simply be capped at the lower speed.

Practical setup (simple, reliable steps):

  1. Fit the SSD to a free SATA port (use a 6 Gbps port if your motherboard has one).
  2. In BIOS set SATA mode to AHCI before installing an OS.
  3. Do a fresh OS install on the SSD if possible — that avoids misaligned partitions and ensures TRIM works properly. Cloning is possible, but only with an SSD-aware tool that aligns partitions and preserves SSD features. If you change SATA mode after installing Windows, follow the OS vendor’s recommended procedure to avoid boot errors.

Everyday tips and cautions:

  • Use the SSD for the OS and programs you want to load fast; keep music, video and archives on the 1.5 TB drive to save SSD space. Move your user folders or libraries to the HDD rather than filling the SSD.
  • Do not routinely defragment the SSD; modern OSes handle SSDs differently (TRIM) — verify your OS behavior.
  • Keep the SSD firmware up to date with the manufacturer’s toolbox and check their guidance for secure erase or health monitoring.
  • If you have very limited SSD space, consider moving large temp folders or heavy-write tasks to the HDD, but for most users leaving the pagefile and normal system files on the SSD gives the best responsiveness.

As and suggested, this is a common and effective combo; ignore ’s comment — SSD + HDD is perfectly compatible.

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Member Avatar for BBAD

yes, you better to setup the SSD as your OS drive, and leave any storage, data on the 1.5tb drive, to get the best performance.

SATA isn;t like IDE when you have two drives on the same cable so no issue, as you using seperate SATA Ports.

Member Avatar for rashidbn

i think ssd and os not work make together. but try

Member Avatar for flightsjabri

the perfect combination for you is to install OS and main prgramms and feature on ssd and find if you can get ssd based on 6Gbps, also called at sata3. and keep sata 22 hdd as your backup drive and softwares that are not mostly used or light softwares.

Member Avatar for floatingDivs

i think ssd and os not work make together. but try

What in the world? Considering SSD's use SATA connectors just like HDDs, yes they will.

I'm currently running a 60GB SSD for the operating system (and FIFA 11!) and use my 1TB secondary drive to store my videos, pictures, and other files (as well as all my applications!)

Member Avatar for caperjack

What in the world? Considering SSD's use SATA connectors just like HDDs, yes they will.

I'm currently running a 60GB SSD for the operating system (and FIFA 11!) and use my 1TB secondary drive to store my videos, pictures, and other files (as well as all my applications!)

they only posted to spam the links in there signature ,just ignore there ramble

Member Avatar for flightsjabri

what does it mean :S

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