Sata noob

[oshta]

Im about to get a repacment hdd because i want more space and i thinkg my old pata maxtor is slowly dieing.

I have a Abit AT7Max2 motherboard, which beleave has, two chanel Pata, four chanel pata raid, and two channel sata raid. (although theres only 4pata sockets in total )

So can i use a single Sata HDD as my main (only) hdd?
- And will i need to mess about with Raid drivers to get this to work?

Is there much point in going for the sata over the pata anyway, i'd mainly be doing it for the future-proofing, as i prolly wont be keeping the mobo for much more than a year or two longer.

Also, im planing to get the 160, 200 or 250gb samsung spinpoint, depending on which i can afford


Daniel

[dave87]

Yes, you can use a single drive. Nope, there is no need to muck about with Raid, and SATA is theoretically faster, and if your bothered, slightly tidier than the Pata (in terms of wiring).

I would personally go SATA, as there is very little price difference, and you've got all you need to connect a new hdd already

Dave

[oshta]

So if i just hook up the sata hdd to the sata port, then it will just work, just like if i used pata?

Daniel

[nvening]

Well, in truth you could need drivers for sata (the raid ones which come with your mobo) but most boards will work with xp using xps own driver. (i think thats how it happens)

Then you just install your chipset drivers, if you have a floppy drive there is nothing to worry about!

[Nox]

FYI The XP CD picks up nforce 4 and ICH5 sata connected HD's no probs without needed to specify addition drivers. I can't say for certain it will be fine with yours, but there is a pretty good chance.

Nox

[aidanjt]

Pitty that doesn't apply to ICH5R, I had to create a custom WinXP install cd (I dispise floppy drives with a passion).

[oshta]

Ok, thanks.

Still not sure if it worth the hassle, might be simplyer to just stick with pata for now.

Also dispise floppy drives, but i do have one somwhere which i can use if/when it makes life easyer.


Daniel

[NightshadowUK]

Oshta, go with SATA. There's no messing around at all, after windows is installed just put in the CD that came with your motherboard, install the drivers (you'll have to do this anyway if you use on-board audio) and that's your lot. You said you wanted a future proof purchase and that's exactly what a SATA hard drive is.

[oshta]

Yeah, ok, cool. Ill do that.

Also, how good are the sata-pata addapters that come with the Abit boards?

[NightshadowUK]

For power? They work fine in my experience.

[dave87]

The data ones work fine, I had a dvd-rw running off one temporarily as I had a spare SATA cable but no IDE one


Dave

[NightshadowUK]

S'all good then, go forth and purchase SATA goodness.

[oshta]

ok, 200gb spinpoint ordered, from scan, for despatch tomorrow, thanks all


Daniel

[NightshadowUK]

Bitchin'. <-

[Nox]

yeah, I would definately go for SATA, I can see the day in the near future when CD drives go SATA (some companies have allready tried) and IDE gets phased out.

It really is no more hassle than regular IDE, ie if you want raid, you either have to slipstream, or have a floppy drive (until vista anyway)

Nox

[oshta]

Bitchin'. <-

Yeah, thats the baby!

yeah, I would definately go for SATA

Thats good then, seening as its ordered already!!