Win7 support:

Robert in CA wrote:
On Tuesday, July 16, 2019 at 10:01:01 AM UTC-7, Paul wrote:
Robert in CA wrote:
On Tuesday, July 16, 2019 at 4:26:46 AM UTC-7, Paul wrote:
Robert in CA wrote:

I see what you mean by the 'L' now.... I'll
open the 780 up and have a look and take pics
but the OKGear Sata cable still only (1) HD
connection and we need (2).

Robert
Your motherboard has four SATA connectors total,
that I can see in a picture of the motherboard.

The data cables have a *one-to-one* relationship.

SATA1 --------------- HDD1
SATA2 --------------- HDD2
SATA3 --------------- Optical drive
SATA4 --------------- Optical drive

Therefore, we want a data cable with *one* connector
on each end.

Unlike the ribbon cable era, with two connectors on
the end of the ribbon, SATA has only *one*. It's point
to point, high speed serial. That's why the cable can
be thin.

*******

SATA does support FIS, which allows more than one
drive to be put on a single cable. The standard
supports up to 15 drives off one cable. The
silicon available for this, supports 5 drives
as a practical choice (from a bandwidth perspective).
The hardware is a small box, which would not be
a convenient formfactor for inside a PC.

Mobo SATA --------- FIS ------ SATA1
Box ------ SATA2
------ SATA3
------ SATA4
------ SATA5

The cables are *still* one-to-one. But the box
handles "fan-out". It allows a motherboard
with four SATA connectors, to support *20*
drives total.

I have yet to run into someone who has bought
one of those boxes. I think the boxes were
around $100 each when they were new.

This shows the printed circuit board of a
port multiplier. With the one chip that multiplexes
things. These only work with FIS-capable SATA ports
on other pieces of equipment. Not only do you
have to look up and see whether your computer
has that... but you also have to test that it
really works.

https://www.amazon.com/Misszhang-US-.../dp/B07NW7XD9Z

When Port Multipliers first came out, they were
packaged like this.

http://www.satacable.com/cosapomubrso.html

Paul


Oh, I get it now,.. here are some pics of the end
of the cable.

https://postimg.cc/Cz488RDY

https://postimg.cc/CzDgr8JT

https://postimg.cc/JHH55MNm

https://postimg.cc/5YTw0TZr

Robert
It occurs to me, that the drives are upside-down
in the dual rack area.

When I hold a drive right-side-up (label upwards), the
power connector is on the left.

In your pictures, the daisy chained power cable is
on the right.

So the drives must be upside-down for that current
cabling scheme to work.

Compare this right-angle cable to yours.
Check the length, leave enough slack to reach the other
two motherboard SATA connectors. Since the drive seems upside-down,
it's probably a right-angle connector.

https://www.newegg.com/red-startech-...82E16812200048

Paul

24 inches seems the right length but I'll
open it up again and and get a approximate
measurement to make sure.

Where on the motherboard am I'm plugging this
in? For example to the right of the Intel chip?
or is it along the edge where the blue and orange
cable are plugged in?


Thanks,
Robert

The picture of the 780 motherboard I found, shows
four SATA connectors, and my assumption is they
all come from the Southbridge chip (which is near
to them).

You can use any one of the four SATA ports.
Two are used currently (one HDD, one optical drive).
That leaves two others. Just use which ever one is
convenient.

Paul