A8N-SLI Dx: Can I install a single SATA as the boot device?

[quaker]

ON the A8N-SLI Deluxe, can I install a single SATA HD in sata #1 as my
boot device, and install a PATA drive as mass storage? Is there any
advantage to doing this? Due to the restrictions of my case, I don't
have sufficient length on the ribbon cable to install another PATA on
the same IDE channel as the other PATA drive. Besides, I wanted to
have the channel bearing only one device for faster transfers between
drives. The manual isn't really very clear to me on this point, but
does say that I can assign boot priority in the BIOS. Any help in this
area would be greatly appreciated, as the build is nearly finished and
I have held off ordering the SATA drive until I find out if it would
do me any good at all.

Thanks

 

[DarkElldar]

You should be able to do that. You can also get a SATA to PATA adapter and
then hook up your PATA drive to the SATA as well this is a small board that
plugs into the 40 pin connector on the HD then you use a SATA cable to hook
up to your MB. You can set any drive to boot in the BIOS under the BOOT
settings you can also set which drives can and cannot boot. And the order
they boot in. Also make sure that RAID is not enabled in the BIOS if you are
going to use the drives single.

 

[quaker]

Thanks a lot, DarkElldar. That helps a great deal. I really have no
interest in RAID at this time, and disabling it won't cause me any
grief. I appreciate the assistance.

 

[DarkElldar]

I have 2 SATA drives on the nVidia SATA controler non RAID, and 2 Optical
drives on the primary IDE port, Dual BOOT Win XP pro and Win XP pro x64. I
am very happy with this board so far. Just had a problem with the Chipset
fan getting loud. Changed it to a Vantec cooler with a ball bearing fan. Had
this system running for about 2 weeks now and has been stable and fast.

A8N SLI Deluxe 1003 BIOS
Athlon 64 3500+ Newcastle (2420 GigHz FSB 1100 220 X 11)
ATI X700 PCIe 256 Meg with Arctic Cooling Cooler (475 chip/525 ram)
2 Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 120 Gig SATA HD's
1 Gig PC3200 Crucial Ram CL2.5
LG GDR-8163 B DVD Reader Drive
LG GWA-4161 B DVD Writer Drive
Sound Blaster Audigy 2
ATI TV Tuner card
Cooler Master Aerogate II Fan Controler
Enermax 350 Watt Power Supply
Antec Super Lanboy Aluminum Case
MS wireless Keyboard and mouse
Altec Lansing 4.1 surround speakers.
Samsung 712N 17" LCD Monitor