setting up a sata drive?

[micovwar]

hi there

i was wondering if i could have some advice on setting up my first sata hard drive,ive just purchased all my new hardware online and its due for delivery tomorow.

my new system is as follows:

shuttle xpc sn95gv3
athlon64 3700 skt939 san diego 1mb cache
2x1gb corsair ddr400
maxtor 80gb sata 2 7200rpm 8mb cache
nec 16x dvdrw dual layer
microsoft oem win xp home inc s/pack 2

like i said earlier this is the first sata drive iv had so am not sure on how to set it up and format it then install windows,i only know the traditional way to setup/format/install windows etc on ide drives.

unfortunately i never got used to the boot from cdrom option for win xp on ide drives (it would never work for me,im assuming becouse my copy is erm "a copy") hence the reason ive bought an oem version as i was told this would work booting from cd rom on any drive.

ide realy appreciate sum guidance on this please as im hoping the format and install is gona be my only sticking point tommorow when i build my new machine.

much appreciated.

thnx.

mic.

[EtheAv8r]

Install and plug in new SATA drive. With everything connected, insert pukka XP CD in drive and switch it on and follow the onscreen prompts..... there is a good chance that the installer will tell you it can't find a hard drive to instal on....

If so don't worry, this is where the floppy diskette labelled SATA Drivers that came with your kit (or there will be instructions on the supplied chipset installer CD or similar on which files to copy to a floppy for the SATA drivers ...)....

Reboot and keep eyes open in early windows boot sequence for a message to "Press F6 to install 3rd Party SCSI ar RAID disk controller.... and quickly before it moves on...

Press F6....

Press S to specify disk controller for windows

Insert the DATA driver disk in A:\ when asked... and if nesessary select the correct SATA driver for your mobo... then Windows installer will proceed as normal....create and format your hard drive partition... and just follow the prompts... etc etc


Or somat very much like that!

Good Luck.

[Vimeous]

If you use the standard on-board RAID controller it will usually have a JBOD or RAID setting in the BIOS. If it is set to JBOD you should not need to add the RAID drivers during the WinXP install process.
If using a secondary controller (e.g. Silicon Image 3114) you may need the drivers. Easiest thing to do is pop the XP disc in and see if it spots a drive for it to use. If not restart and add the drivers as described by EtheAv8r above.

[EtheAv8r]

Would have been nice to know how you got on......

[latrosicarius]

If you use the standard on-board RAID controller it will usually have a JBOD or RAID setting in the BIOS. If it is set to JBOD you should not need to add the RAID drivers during the WinXP install process.
If using a secondary controller (e.g. Silicon Image 3114) you may need the drivers. Easiest thing to do is pop the XP disc in and see if it spots a drive for it to use. If not restart and add the drivers as described by EtheAv8r above.

Vimeous is correct, you will not need special drivers for SATA. Windows only needs drivers for RAIDing SATA drives together (or any type of drive in software RAID or JBOD for that matter). I don't trust software RAID anyway. Hardware controller cards are much more reliable, and they free up CPU power.

Just to let you know, you will NOT get any benefit other than smaller cable size from your 80GB SATA drive over any other 7200RPM IDE drive. People get SATAs for RAID capabilities, and because some SATA drives (like the WD Raptor) are much faster (10,000RPM).