How to enable SATA 1 for HP ProDesk 400 G3 SFF

[DEK45]

I have a 2016  HP ProDesk 400 G3 SFF and want to upgrade the HD. The MoBo has two SATA ports on it, SATA 0 and SATA 1. The systems drive is hooked to SATA 0. I hooked up a new Samsung SSD to SATA 1 but that port seems to be non-functional. I even tested it with a known working spare SANDISK SSD and nothing.  If I hook up the existing drive to SATA 1 the system will not recognize it. I get a message saying there is no HD present. Then when I hook it back to SATA 0 it boots just fine. I can access the BIOS using F10 and the boot info using F9 just fine, but can't figure out a way to get SATA 1 to work so I can do a drive to drive copy for the new SS drive I have. Is there some setting in the bios to enable SATA 1 or a MoBo jumper that needs to be set? Or is there some other way to upgrade to a larger drive?

[Paul_Tikkanen]

SATA 0 is for the boot drive.

SATA 1 is for an additional storage drive.

You can't boot the PC from the SATA 1 port which is why when you moved the cable to the SATA 1 port, the notebook reported a boot device not found error.

So, what you do is to plug your SATA SSD in the SATA 1 port and clone the drive's contents from the existing drive in SATA 0 to the SSD in the SATA 1 port.

Then remove the mechanical hard drive from the SATA 0 port, plug the cloned SSD into the SATA 0 port and you should be good to go.

[DEK45]

I plugged in the original SSD to SATA 1 to see if the BIOS would see it. I did this because when the original SSD was in SATA 0 and I plugged in the brand new Samsung SSD into SATA 1 the bios could NOT see it. I even tested a known working SSD on SATA 1 and bios could not see it either. So I plugged the original SSD into SATA 1 to test it. SATA 1 is NON FUNCTIONAL which is the basis of my question. HOW TO ENABLE IT.

This is really a weird problem because I've tinkered with PC's for over 20 years and have never had a SATA port problem till now.

[Paul_Tikkanen · Accepted solution]

Go into the BIOS and in the advanced menu, there are options to disable/enable the various ports.

See the service manual chapter 5, pages 56 & 57.

Maintenance and Service Guide HP ProDesk 400 G3 Small Form Factor

If that doesn't enable the port or it already indicates it is enabled, then most likely the port is kaput.

What you do then is to buy a SATA to USB cable and clone the hard drive to the SATA SSD via a USB 3 port.

Amazon.com: BENFEI SATA to USB Cable, 2in1 USB-C/USB 3.0 to SATA III Hard Driver Adapter Compatible ...

[DEK45]

THANK YOU for the great info. The user guide is a big help. I checked the settings you suggested and SATA 1 IS enabled, so it must be broken. As for using a USB device, I have a USB 'toaster' but had only used it to transfer files between drives, never to set up a new drive. I tried it for that and was surprised that the cloning software recognized the new drive in it and the clone process worked. I'm now running the new Samsung drive and it is working perfectly : )

[Paul_Tikkanen]

You're very welcome.

Glad to have been of assistance.