I will be building a new machine over the next few months and I have a few questions reguarding installation of XP.

First question: I have heard that if you have a valid lisence (I do, academic), that you can get Microsoft to send you a physical media CD. Is there an option to get a CD with SP2 already in it? I know you can slipstream it yourself, but straight from microsoft seems more desirable.

Second Question: My primary HD is going to be a SATA. (Secondary will be a PATA) I have heard multiple horror stories about people can't get XP to recognize and install on SATA hard drives. Is there a foolproof way of doing this? Any hints?

Thanks a bunch.

well the horror stories you have heard are quite true and common, but thankfully most of them are simple causes,. at the begining when trying to install XP it should ask you to press F6 to install SATA/Raid drivers, have the proper drivers ready on a floppy disk,. press F6 and install them off the floppy disk and you should be ok. a very minimal ammount of motherboards from certain companys i think mainly ASUS and DFI (someone can correct me if i'm wrong) auto-detect the SATA drive and do not need drivers installed if you have a motherboard from one of those manufacturers check the company's website of the board you own look for your model number or type and it should have some info on it.

-D-