adding a SSD to PC questions

[daleonline]

I've just bought a 240gb SSD and I'm a bit confused by the different colour data sockets

T ere is a white one and an orange one free and 2 blue ones taken by the HD and DVD drives

I don't want to plug in the SSD without knowing which socket to use

Naturally, once inserted I will transfer the OS ro the SSD and use the HD for docs, photos etc

If someone could guide me through the process I'd be very grateful

[wb2001]

@daleonline 

This will give you a starting point to understand the processes involved.  This might include a temporary 3rd hard drive because you need to remove data files (doc,pics,music) to get the 2TB drive down to a size that would fit on your very small SSD.

[pcpunk]

I cannot find any good info on that MB, maybe someone else can.  The important thing to me would be which SATA Ports are the fastest.

Do you have an extra Power connector in the pc now?  You could use the Optical Drive SATA and Power cable I would guess, but I have never done that.  

Another path would be to get a usb external drive enclosure, and Clone to the SSD using that.  Then swap the drives, of course you will need an Adapter to fit the SSD in the 3.5" Bay.  I like the one I linked you to as it has some extra cables if you need them and lot's of adjustability.

If there is an extra Power connector, I don't see why you couldn't plug in the SSD to one of the SATA Sockets and see if it is recognized.  If so, Clone it from there after using the above directions from Wb2001

[Golffies]

Hi !

Are you talking about the SATA connectors on the motherboard, made available with different colours? It is unlikely that colours mean different speed; on a given motherboard, SATA connectors do likely belong to the same release of the norm (i.e. the same speed). It might happen that colour gives a tip at which SATA controller the connector is attached to; controllers may be integrated in the chipset of your motherboard, or added to it as a separate chip). It worth to be check in your computer user manual, however I would not worry to much about it, in regards to performance.

Your SSD has then to be plugged to your PSU by a thin 15-pin power connector, too; you likely have one unused.

For the migration work itself, it sounds like you know what to do.

Regards.

[wb2001]

@daleonline,

The 4 different colors do not have a "standard" among manufacturers.  Each SATA data header (the 4 colors you see) actually have numbers. The lowest number (ie 0 or 1) is for the boot drive. HP has this document.