windows XP sata question

[colemancb]

i am putting together a PC for school, but want unbridled speed any way i can get it. in picking out an hd, someone told me that XP (pro) doesn't like sata and will not boot from it, so i need another ide drive to boot XP and use the sata drive for all my data.

id rather not have to have a boot hdd AND a data hdd.

thanks.

[ringfinger]

XP boots just fine on SATA

[InTheWayBoy]

To clarify, XP will boot to an SATA drive if you install it correctly. If you are installing the OS yourself, you'll need to add an extra step...when the blue text mode setup begins start mashing "F6" so you can load the SATA driver...otherwise the setup won't find the HD to install to. You'll need to have a floppy drive and the correct disk (Should come with your motherboard). You can accomplish this many other ways, but that's the easiest if you've never had to do it before. Check the unattended forums if you want to permanently integrate the drivers onto a CD...good luck!

[Andromeda43]

Since the day I first brought my new SATA drive home, my Windows XP has worked just fine on it.

But, whatever it takes, upgrade to SATA whenever possible, especially for your OS drive. It's just Sooooooo much faster than IDE.

Cheers,

Andromeda43

[agonified]

First try!

Just try to install xp on your new SATA disk. If it fails with something like "Windows cant find a disk on your machine", try updating your motherboard's bios to ensure that it can introduce your SATA to windows setup. If it also fails, F6 method is your solution...

[colemancb]

So, I'm guessing there's no quick solution if it doesn't work? I'm very lazy. =P The mobo I was looking at had a disk for SATA drivers...would that be what I use when isntalling XP? I would think XP SP2 would come with them, but can I just intergrate them using nLite or something?

[InTheWayBoy]

To clarify, XP will boot to an SATA drive if you install it correctly. If you are installing the OS yourself, you'll need to add an extra step...when the blue text mode setup begins start mashing "F6" so you can load the SATA driver...otherwise the setup won't find the HD to install to. You'll need to have a floppy drive and the correct disk (Should come with your motherboard). You can accomplish this many other ways, but that's the easiest if you've never had to do it before. Check the unattended forums if you want to permanently integrate the drivers onto a CD...good luck!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Maybe I need to clarify more:

1. WinXP SP2 does not include any SATA drivers on the CD. It does offer a way to add new drivers...that's the "F6" key. You'll need to have the drivers on a floppy disk, and they must be in the correct format. This usually consists of a few driver files and a TXTSETUP.OEM file, which is the key to all this. The disk that comes with your mobo should be all you need. If you don't have it then look on the mobo's website for a download.

2. If you want to integrate this into the CD, check the Unattended Forum, or possibly the Drivers forum. There are at least ten threads dedicated to this function, you'll have to read them and find which one works for you. As far as I know, nlite doesn't do that...

BTW, what mobo are we talking about?

[rjz]

Soe oems like Dell integrate theres.

[nmX.Memnoch]

So, I'm guessing there's no quick solution if it doesn't work?

Using the floppy is the quick solution.

My system has nothing but SATA hard drives...two 36GB Raptors RAID 0'd and two WD 250GB. It's been working fine from day one.

[Andromeda43]

There are two words that do NOT work well together.

That would be "Computer" and "Lazy".

If you're going to work on your own computer, then you can't be lazy.

There are just too many things that have to be done by the numbers or you're going to be in deep sh**!

A truly lazy person will want to do it right and the most efficient way the first time so they don't have to go back and do it again.

Maybe you've not learned this yet. I learned it over 25 years ago.

Doing things by the numbers is much more critical now with Win XP than it was then with DOS.

Make just one mistake with XP and it will ruin your day!

Good Luck,

Andromeda43

[TheFlash428]

Soe oems like Dell integrate theres.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Yes, this is true--all of our Dells use SATA drives and the XP CD's that come with them have the drivers pre-loaded.

[ringfinger]

Well.... I'm building a new machine right now and haven't even purchased a floppy as I didn't think I'd ever need one again. Haven't used one in a few years. Is there no way to load the driver off a cd/dvd/usb drive??

[InTheWayBoy]

Only if you integrate it into the source...it seems to be hard-coded to look only on the A: if you F6.

[rjz]

Some bioses will let you uses other devices as a like zips.

[InTheWayBoy]

I've seen "Native" mode in a few BIOS, which if I understand it correctly is a way to use SATA without drivers. But I have to think that would include some performance hit as well.