SATA as bootable drive

[Darthtanion]

All right, I'm finally making the jump to the SATA bandwagon and so should have my first ever SATA drive this week. I'm pretty much wanting to make sure I've got the scenerio correct, so here goes...

When I set up the SATA drive as the bootable drive (it will be the only hard drive installed), do I just need to install the SATA drivers that came with the mainboard when it asks for SCSI drivers? We're talking about the initial installation of Windows, of course. I don't foresee any problems after that but if there may be issues, let me know.

[Yawgm0th]

Re: SATA as bootable drive

Yeah, from what I've heard, you just need to put the latest SATA drivers on a floppy and have Windows use when it ask for SCSI/RAID drivers.

[Darthtanion]

Re: SATA as bootable drive

Excellent... that was what I was figuring but wanted to double check. I try to keep multiple installs down to an absolute minimum.

[begrubb]

Re: SATA as bootable drive

you may also need to go into bios first and in the boot up sequence turn all drives to disabled except the last one which usually is scsi bootable devices, or something of that nature, may also just simply be SATA, depends on what mobo youve got or are getting (oh and obviously CDrom when installing windows)

and there may also be another option in your bios saying something like First Seek/BOOT SATA Drives = Enable.
if you do have that option it will be under the sub folder of your SATA options

then the easy part
slide in your good'ol legit *cough cough* copy of XP
then at the beginning press F3 or F6 or whatever it is to search for additional scsi drivers, then press s i think it is (its been a while since ive done this so forgive me if i get this slightly wrong, it sure as hell shouldnt be completely wrong ;0)
to specify your drivers the pop in the floppy and it will search the floppy, find the drivers, and your away

[Darthtanion]

Re: SATA as bootable drive

The boot sequence wasn't going to be a problem, just the drivers for the SATA drive as boot. Oh, and the WinXP is actually legit. Check out my profile and take a peek at the occupation listed. Kinda gives it away.

I'll double check the SATA portion though to make sure I won't need to change anything there. The mainboard being used now is a MSI s939 variety and comes with 4 SATA ports built onto the board. You'd think I could never run out of space, but time will tell.

[Darthtanion]

Re: SATA as bootable drive

Well, everything went as smooth as silk so all is working incredibly well. I think I'm going to be having fun with this new system.

[Frost]

Re: SATA as bootable drive

Have fun with it. It saves some space for me for 3 CD/DVD drives/burners in the eide end. NOW they are making DVD burners with SATA connections. My 2 SATA drives work pretty well, but I might up my 120GB Maxtor to a Seagate or other with native NCQ technology. However, I still need to do some research on my Abit KV8MAX3 motherboard to see if either the VIA or the Silicon Image controller will support Native Command Quereing. If I spelled that right?? LOL

Anyway. Can boot with either VIA or S.I. just have to set the BIOS to look for the right controller, and all is well.
Vern