Installing a 2nd hard drive that is SATA

[katy]

I have checked the Maxtor knowledgebase but couldn't find a answer to our
specific problem. We installed a 2nd hard drive in a Dell Dimension 8400,
primary is WD 250gb which we found out is SATA. So we had to purchase an
SATA drive (Maxtor SATA (L01M120) 120 GB Hard Drive) for our 2nd drive
instead of using our IDE. When I went through the install process of the
Maxtor, I made a mistake and said we would be using this for WinXP, when in
fact we want to use it for storage (pix, music, huge files).
Now when we bootup, we get the message that "NTLDR is missing".
Would anyone know what is the best way to 'reformat' that Maxtor 2nd drive?
We can't boot to WinXP on the WD because of this error so we took the drive
out for now.
This new Dell 8400 has WindowsXP HOme edition on it but we can't
boot to windows with that Maxtor drive in, to try to do anything about this
problem in windows.
At first I was thinking of using a Win98 bootdisk to boot to DOS and
format the Maxtor that way but is that even advisable with an SATA drive,
using fdisk? I don't know if that process works with SATA drives like it
does with IDE drives and
Also, can FAT32 be used on SATA drives or do they require NTFS?
We have been suddenly launched into SATA useage and neither of us knows much
about them.

Thank you anyone for your advice.............katy

 

[John]

I have checked the Maxtor knowledgebase but couldn't find a answer to our
specific problem. We installed a 2nd hard drive in a Dell Dimension 8400,
primary is WD 250gb which we found out is SATA. So we had to purchase an
SATA drive (Maxtor SATA (L01M120) 120 GB Hard Drive) for our 2nd drive
instead of using our IDE. When I went through the install process of the
Maxtor, I made a mistake and said we would be using this for WinXP, when in
fact we want to use it for storage (pix, music, huge files).
Now when we bootup, we get the message that "NTLDR is missing".
Would anyone know what is the best way to 'reformat' that Maxtor 2nd drive?
We can't boot to WinXP on the WD because of this error so we took the drive
out for now.
This new Dell 8400 has WindowsXP HOme edition on it but we can't
boot to windows with that Maxtor drive in, to try to do anything about this
problem in windows.
At first I was thinking of using a Win98 bootdisk to boot to DOS and
format the Maxtor that way but is that even advisable with an SATA drive,
using fdisk? I don't know if that process works with SATA drives like it
does with IDE drives and
Also, can FAT32 be used on SATA drives or do they require NTFS?
We have been suddenly launched into SATA useage and neither of us knows much
about them.

Thank you anyone for your advice.............katy

You can't format it in DOS, even XP (light years beyond DOS) can't see
SATA without drivers. Go to your motherboard manufacturer's web site
(Dell) and download SATA drivers that suit your comp.

With the proper drivers you can install XP and format it in NTFS, Fat32
(poor) or FAT16 (ridiculous).

Good luck,
John

ps: You can do this but you need to learn many things - are you willing?

 

[Guest]

While SATA drives CAN use NTFS, not required; what usually works for new HD's
is to format FAT16/32, then install the O/S, then DURING the installation you
can "upgrade" the drive to NTFS. Since this is a "second" drive, it appears
you told the install program that you would use this as the "master" HD. Can
you go back into the program and "restore" your original drive to the Master?
Also check to see if you can "repair" your 1st HD's MBR from this program
that you used. I assume you can still boot with a CD-ROM and that you used a
CD-ROM that came with the HD to set it to use XP. Use this same program to
restore your 1st HD as the boot drive. Hope this helps.

 

[Stephen]

Get your motherboard's manual out. You will have to go into the BIOS and
make sure SATA is enabled and you will have to check to see how your system
is handling SATA.

What is happening now is that the system is checking the blinking SATA drive
for the NTLDR and not the IDE drive. You will have tom ake sure things are
set straight in the BIOS. Check the manual.

You can do any (re)formatting of the new drive in Windows XP - you do not
need the Maxtor utilities to do that.

Both FAT32 and NTFS are just fine for the SATA drive. NTFS is the preferred
choice and, unless you have a specific reason to use FAT32, you should just
go ahead and use NTFS.

 

[katy]

Thanks John, Kevin & Stephen...... I'm very anxious to learn and this is a
learning experience for sure. The primary drive is also an SATA drive so
there must be drivers (at least for that drive), we didn't get a manual with
the motherboard that I'm aware of. I did read after posting this, that
someone else with almost a similar experience had to change the F2 setup to
change the boot drive, I would think the bios is already set to accept SATA
since the drive that the computer came with is also SATA (I am assuming
because that is the only kind of connection on the mobo). The bios in that
machine is very foreign also; wish we HAD gotten a manual for the mobo.
And it's not possible to format the 2nd drive in windows because when I
put the maxtor back in (secondary), windows doesn't even load because of
this NTLDR error. I am not sure why the NTLDR missing error is showing up,
I thought it was because I checked the box that said the drive would be used
for WinXP. I used the install CD again to see if I could go through that
install process again but the wizard did not appear like it did when the
drive was brand new. I will check to see if the primary drive is formatted
ntfs, then I could use the same for the maxtor (we want to see files on both
drives from XP); once we can get into windows and see the 2nd drive (in
windows).
I really just want to undo my initial hard drive install. I will see
if I can write to Maxtor, so far all knowledgebase articles are something
like it, but not wanting to reverse original install.
I'll keep checking here though maybe more ideas will come to mind.......
Thanks very much!!! k

 

[Stephen]

OK I thought your primary drive was an IDE drive. Now it seems to be a SATA.

If you are working with two SATA harddrives and no IDE harddrive then make
sure that the SATA drive you are booting from is physically attached to the
first SATA connector on the motherboard. Since you can attach at least two
SATAs then you probably have a least a first and a second SATA connector on
the motherboard.

LOOK carefully for MARKINGS on the motherboard (you might need a really
bright flashlight). Make sure the SATA drive you are booting from is in the
FIRST position and the auxiliary drive is in the second. On one of my
motherboards the SATA connectors are called SATA1 and SATA2. I haven't seen
how Dell marks them.

Back to one of your comments: Make sure the BIOS is set to check the SATA
drive first when booting.

Also make sure SATA is enabled properly!

i.e. from the Dell site:

"Change the SATA Operation setting in the BIOS from RAID Autodetect / AHCI,
the factory default setting, to RAID Autodetect / ATA"

No, you have not set up a RAID0 even though you have two SATAs there.

Watch the wrap on the link:

http://support.dell.com/support/top.../en/document?dn=1091593&c=us&l=en&s=dhs&cs=19

And on top of all that do a precursory check on the CD-ROM drive and make
sure it is installed and jumpered properly. It probably can go on either the
secondary IDE or primary IDE jumpered as a master. The blue end of the cable
goes into the mobo and the black connector to the CD-ROM drive.

Also the Dell BIOS probably allows you to set the boot seqeunce i.e. floppy
first or CD-ROM first - make sure it is the SATA drive or harddrive first.

Once you have booted to Windows, you *can* do the (re)formatting of any
second harddrive you add to the computer. SATA is good for both FAT32 and
NTFS. NTFS is probably better in most circumstances.