How many actual SATA ports?

DocNogloff

New Member
I want to add an M.2 SSD to my Acer V15 Nitro VN7-591G-751V, (apparently it supports M.2 SATA only, but regional models may not even have a port) so I want to try using Hwinfo to see if it has a free port.

This is what I see (SATA port 5 is the only "SATA port #" entry listed), and I have a few questions.
 
1. Does this mean the only usable SATA port is the one for the default 1TB HDD, or is there in fact a free port but is unused?
2. Is counting unused SATA ports in hwinfo even possible, and do M.2 slots count as a free SATA port? 
HzICsjB.png


I'm not experienced with this stuff, so any answer is appreciated. Thanks in advance.
 
Well, this is an interesting question and I'm not sure if I can give you a reliable answer.
According to the picture you posted it looks like there are no other SATA ports available. Usually when there are unused ports, they are shown in the list as unused.
But it's still possible that if there are other ports, they might be disabled by BIOS. So first, I'd suggest to check in BIOS if you see options for additional SATA ports and whether such port are disabled there.
 
Hi, thanks for your suggestion. I did take a look in the BIOS, but there were no detailed options regarding SATA ports or interfaces, I only found the boot order menu which didn't list anything other than the 1TB HDD plus the usual Network boot, USB FDD, USB CDROM, and Windows Boot Manager. It's possible that the motherboard does not activate the port at all when there is nothing plugged in, but there's no way to check or enable it.

It's not like Acer's BIOS settings are ever comprehensive, so I may have to pop open the laptop to check.
Thanks for your help though, I'll get back with what I can find.
 
I think that it's rather unlikely that the port would be completely disabled if there's nothing plugged-in.
But yes, best to be sure is to open the notebook.
 
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