SATA problem

[Guest]

I have read about SATA here but it didnt helped me.

I have several ATA and one SATA and I want to boot on SATA.

It works, my PC boots both on SATA and IDE but if I boot from SATA I have no
IDE disks. They exist, I have uninstalled them and reinstalled. (driver)
No matter what I do because Windows cant se them and they have no drive
letters.

The Windows installation (boot) is totally separate on 3 disks.
SATA is C:. ...... at least Windows set it to be C: as it is the boot disk.

I choose bootdisk at start up in setup (CMOS) not from any menu.

Uninstall and reinstall driver I think it must be the same as adding the ATA
after booting on SATA.

No problems with cardreaders, DVD och USB-HD. its 8 of these disks.

All bootdisks is originally C: as I have no other ATA/SATA installed while
installing XP.

ATA boot disks are one master and one slave.

New PC with very fresh BIOS.

 

[R. McCarty]

Sounds like a Controller configuration issue with BIOS. Most newer
Motherboards that have embedded SATA/Traditional IDE controllers
have enabling functions. Usually, they are called Legacy (PATA) and
Enhanced for the SATA controller. It's possible when you toggle the
bootable device that the other controller is being automatically disabled.
Also make sure that in Device Manager that the PATA controllers do
not have their M/S Taps set to None.

 

[Guest]

Also make sure that in Device Manager that the PATA controllers do
not have their M/S Taps set to None.

Thanks,
I have no idea about this and cant find it in Device Manager.

SATA works without problem if I boot on ATA, I have problem to se the
differens between booting on SATA or ATA. I should work, I think, but it
dosnt.
What is the difference between these 2 boots?

 

[DL]

Are you saying that you have several winxp installations on different hd's
and you wish to choose which to boot from? then when booting from one it
doesnt detect other hd's?

 

[Guest]

If I boot with ATA all disks are visible. Incl the SATA disk and I can move
files between ATA-SATA and back.

Booting on SATA, all ATA disks are invisible because they have no
driveletters.
This only affect the ATA drives. USB, DVD and other extern disks are not
affected.

If I only use SATA I can install ATA disks normally exept for they do not
have any driveletter. They are RAW disks. System recognize them but Windows
doesnt. ATA disks are recognized in diskmanager but most options are greyed
out.

ATA disks and controller seems to be without problems in Device Manager.

No problems with in which order the disk should boot. It works very good and
it is easy to change between bootdisks.I think I have 5 bootdisks for XP and
I have more than 30 HDs but this SATA is the first one.

 

[DL]

Maybe a setting in your bios for when you boot off the sata drive, perhaps
your mobo manual shows some specific settings when using sata.
It certainly sound like a configuration issue.
I assume that when you say you are using cmos to boot you mean you are using
the bios options
I believe there are some freeware utilities to provide multi boot, thought
of trying one?

 

[JohnF]

To assign drive letters in Win XP click Start then right click My Computer
and click Manage.
Select Disk Management (under Storage) then, for each disk, right click the
disk entry and select "Change drive letter and paths".

JohnF

 

[Guest]

Thanks John and DL

yes the drives are in Disk Management only problem is that all opitions I
can use are greyed out as Windows see those disks as RAW, not formated and
so, not ready for use. I dont have the English version.

I have not tested a clean HD if it is possible to format or not.

Configuration problem, yes very probably but if I boot with ATA I have no
problems with the SATA disk. I use it for temporary storinguntil I have
solved this problem.

Where is nothing in users manual about this. ATA and SATA is discribed
separatly and not a word on using them at the same time.

So, is there any difference between booting with SATA or ATA?

Maybe if one of the ATA disks also is C:? If I have 2 C:? What happen?
Windows just change driveletters for ATA disks but can it be changed for SATA?
I will try to change driveletter for the ATA but I have very bad experience
of doing so. The only way I think is low level format because Win 98 and XP I
think have never accepted the change of driveletter, it cause problems soner
or later.

So, I prefere to try something else instead if someone have any suggestions.
I dont understand this configuration problem as long as the SATA disk work
togheter with ATA. The configuration will not change if I boot with SATA?
Or do I miss something here?

 

[Bill Blanton]

Booting on SATA, all ATA disks are invisible because they have no
driveletters.
This only affect the ATA drives. USB, DVD and other extern disks are not
affected.

If I only use SATA I can install ATA disks normally exept for they do not
have any driveletter. They are RAW disks. System recognize them but Windows
doesnt. ATA disks are recognized in diskmanager but most options are greyed
out.

What do you mean exactly by "System recognizes them but Windows doesn't"?
If they are visible in Window's "diskmanagement" then the disks are being
recognized. But it seems that the partitions or format may not be.

Do you have Goback or a drive manager/overlay installed on the ATA config?
That can cause the partition information to be missing if the software wasn't
loaded at boot. Did you use the drive manufacturer's setup disk to "setup"
the ATA disk? They have been known to install a drive overlay, whether
needed or not.

If the disks aren't being seen at all, otoh, check the BIOS as was already
suggested.

 

[Guest]

Thanks Bill,
I have not tested it yet but you are right. Its the partions that is not
there.
One disk with 3 partions shows only one in diskmanager and yes I use Nortons
Goback and its new to me since maybe three weeks. And the SATA is new to me
since maybe two weeks. New computer too.

I will try a clean disk now together with the SATA disk and this will show
if this is correct but I maybe need some more help here, without testing it I
sure that it is Goback that cause this problem and I am not sure how to solve
it.

I dont use any strange setup for ATA and no RAID.

Thanks a lot and please come back if I need more help and if so it must be
with Goback I think.

 

[Guest]

Thanks to all, especially Bill.
I installed Nortons goBack on the SATA drive and it solved the problem.

So, it is a Nortons problem as usally.

I will find out later what changes GoBack makes to my disks.

GoBack have already saved me from a lot of work two times but it has also
cause me this problem for two weeks.

I still dont know if I want to use GoBack or not, its new to me.

 

[Bill Blanton]

You're welcome.

My suggestion was going to be that you uninstall Goback on
the PATA drive, but I guess installing GB on the SATA worked
and GB was able to detect "itself" on the PATA..

When you install GB, it writes boot code to the MBR so that it can hook
disk I/O. It also moves hte partition tables, and installs its own GB-type
partition spanning the whole disk. Probably what you saw as "raw". All
disk I/O goes through GB assuming the loader code was loaded.

I'd be leary of using two completely separate instances of GB as you
have configured them. You'd probably be better off investing in imaging/
cloning software. For that matter, if you want to dual boot, there are
third party boot managers that can boot from the non-primary-BIOS drive.