There are different types of SSD available in the market, and many beginner PC builders get confused about which SSD need power from Power Supply and which doesn’t need to be connected to the Power Supply.
Generally, all SSDs need power, but the main matter is how the SSDs are taking power. The latest M.2 form factor-based SSDs draw power directly from the motherboard port instead of taking it from the Power Supply.
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2.5 Inch SATA SSD Need To Be Connected To PSU
SATA 2.5-inch SSDs need to be connected to the Power Supply via a power cable. Among all types SSDs, this SSD has the largest form factor; therefore, it needs power separately from the PSU.
This SSD uses the SATA interface to transfer the data; its speed is faster than a hard drive. The SATA 3 is the latest revision of the SATA interface, and its data transfer speed is around 6 Gbps.
But, this SATA SSD won’t be able to give you the speed like other M.2 SSDs because PCIe is a faster interface than SATA and it is not directly connected to the port.
But, some users have to choose this type SSDs because old motherboards don’t have the M.2 slots.
Below, it is described in depth how you can connect a SATA SSD to the Power Supply.
Connect The 2.5 Inch SATA SSD To PSU
The SATA 2.5-inch form factor-based SSDs have 2 pin slots; one is 7 pin slot, and another is 15 pin slot. The 7-pin slot is considered as a data slot where we have to plug the data cable, and the 15-pin slot is termed a power slot where we have to plug the power cable.
Let’s discuss the SATA data cable and SATA power cables-
SATA Data Cable
The SATA data cable has seven pins, primarily used for data transfer purposes. You have to connect its one end to the 7-pin data slot on SSD, and another end you have to connect to the motherboard SATA slot.
You have to plug the data cable into the motherboard’s SATA 3.0 port (not SATA 2 port); sometimes, SATA 3.0 is also identified as the SATA 6Gbps.
If you use the SATA 3Gbps port (SATA 2.0), then you will only get the speed of 3Gbps. You must plug the SSD cable into the right slot to get faster speed.
SATA Power Cable
SATA Power Cable is also required to supply the power to this SATA 2.5-inch SSD. This cable has 15 pins, and you have to connect it to the 15-pin power slot on SSD.
You Won’t Need To Buy Cables To Connet SSDs
There is no such need to buy the cables. Usually, most motherboards come with 2 SATA data cables, so you can use those cables and put 1 2.5-inch SATA SSD and 1 hard drive into your system.
The SATA Power Cables come attached to Power Supply, and a Power Supply comes with multiple SATA power cables.
If there is no power cable left to your Power Supply, then you can use Molex to SATA adapter to connect the SSD. You can add more SATA power cables by reading this article.
SATA M.2 SSDs Not Need To Be Connected To PSU
The SATA M.2 SSDs are very popular on the market, and this type of SSDs also uses the SATA interface. But, unlike the SATA 2.5-inch SSDs, this kind of SSD is not so long and larger.
There is no need to connect these SSDs to the Power Supply because these SSDs draw power directly from the motherboard socket.
These SSDs are available in different sizes, such as 2230nm, 2242nm, 2260nm, 2280nm, and 22110nm. Here 22 is the width which remains the same most of the time, but the lengths vary.
Before installing this type of SSDs to your system, you have to check whether your motherboard has M.2 sockets or not and which keys will be supported by your motherboard. Typically M.2 SSDs have a key structure like B key, M Key, and B+M Key.
If you are confused about how to check SSD compatibility, then you can read this article here.
NVMe M.2 SSDs Not Need To Be Connected To PSU
NVMe (nonvolatile memory express) SSDs are famous among users for their speed, and these are available in the M.2 form factor. But, instead of using the SATA interface, these SSDs use the PCIe interface.
These SSDs also don’t require power separately from the Power Supply; instead, these SSDs take power from the motherboard slots.
The speed of these SSDs is way faster than other SSDs. But you can only install this type of SSD to your system when you have PCIe 3.0 NVMe SSD port or a PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD port.
mSATA SSDs Not Needed To Be Connected To PSU
mSATA SSDs are not so popular these days, but in some old laptops and tablet devices, you will still notice this type of SSD.
These SSDs have a smaller form factor, and their speed is similar to SATA SSDs. These SSDs also don’t need to be connected to the Power Supply.
Final Verdict
At the end of this article, I want to summarize everything for you; all SSDs need power, but only the SATA 2.0 inch form factor SSDs need to be connected to a Power Supply via a power cable. The other SSDs dont need to be connected to PSU; they directly draw power from the socket.
I hope this article is helpful for you and if you want to know more about Power Supplies, SSDs, and other PC parts, then follow this blog regularly.
