Install 2nd (old, ata) hard drive on sata machine ..

  • Thread starter Thread starter Paul Seaton
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Paul Seaton

Hi

I have a Dell Dimension 8400 with a single SATA hard drive.
I want to install a second hard drive, & I want to use a 120 Gb *ATA* hard
drive I have lying around for this purpose.
( I cannot just install it on the IDE controllers as the 2 CD/DVD ROM drives
use the only PATA channel there is. The Dell has 4 SATA connectors on the
MB, thus 3 spare )

I have (foolishly ??) bought an ATA/SATA adapter that claims to enable
connection of ATA HD to SATA motherboard.

OK, I fit the adapter, connect everything up, and - the BIOS doesn't find
this 2nd drive. (Yes the BIOS is configured with the relevant SATA MB input
'active' )

I read a lot on this ng & elsewhere about having to load the xp drivers for
SATA from a floppy by hitting F6 etc etc.. but if there is already one
functional SATA drive in there (which there is) , presumably I don't have to
do this again for the second HD ??

There is loads of material around about installing xp onto a SATA HD, but
none - that I can find - that helps me with this.

Should I just give up & dump my shiny ATA drive & buy a SATA one ??

Help appreciated.
 
Yves Leclerc said:
How about looking at ATA(IDE) to USB conversion kits?
Click to expand...


OK, it's a possiblity.
I just don't like to think I wasted the money on the ata -> sata adapter I
already got, plus.... by now I just would like to know what's going on here
for it's own sake.
 
|
|
| Hi
|
| I have a Dell Dimension 8400 with a single SATA hard drive.
| I want to install a second hard drive, & I want to use a 120 Gb *ATA* hard
| drive I have lying around for this purpose.
| ( I cannot just install it on the IDE controllers as the 2 CD/DVD ROM
drives
| use the only PATA channel there is. The Dell has 4 SATA connectors on the
| MB, thus 3 spare )
|
| I have (foolishly ??) bought an ATA/SATA adapter that claims to enable
| connection of ATA HD to SATA motherboard.
|
| OK, I fit the adapter, connect everything up, and - the BIOS doesn't find
| this 2nd drive. (Yes the BIOS is configured with the relevant SATA MB
input
| 'active' )
|
| I read a lot on this ng & elsewhere about having to load the xp drivers
for
| SATA from a floppy by hitting F6 etc etc.. but if there is already one
| functional SATA drive in there (which there is) , presumably I don't have
to
| do this again for the second HD ??
|
| There is loads of material around about installing xp onto a SATA HD, but
| none - that I can find - that helps me with this.
|
| Should I just give up & dump my shiny ATA drive & buy a SATA one ??
|
| Help appreciated.
|
|
| --
| Paul Seaton
|

Hi Paul -

How do you have the 120GB PATA drive jumpered?

Most SATA adaptors require that the drive be jumpered in the Master
position.

Jef
 
Jef Norton said:
|
|
| Hi
|
| I have a Dell Dimension 8400 with a single SATA hard drive.
| I want to install a second hard drive, & I want to use a 120 Gb *ATA* hard
| drive I have lying around for this purpose.
| ( I cannot just install it on the IDE controllers as the 2 CD/DVD ROM
drives
| use the only PATA channel there is. The Dell has 4 SATA connectors on the
| MB, thus 3 spare )
|
| I have (foolishly ??) bought an ATA/SATA adapter that claims to enable
| connection of ATA HD to SATA motherboard.
|
| OK, I fit the adapter, connect everything up, and - the BIOS doesn't find
| this 2nd drive. (Yes the BIOS is configured with the relevant SATA MB
input
| 'active' )
|
| I read a lot on this ng & elsewhere about having to load the xp drivers
for
| SATA from a floppy by hitting F6 etc etc.. but if there is already one
| functional SATA drive in there (which there is) , presumably I don't have
to
| do this again for the second HD ??
|
| There is loads of material around about installing xp onto a SATA HD, but
| none - that I can find - that helps me with this.
|
| Should I just give up & dump my shiny ATA drive & buy a SATA one ??
|
| Help appreciated.
|
|
| --
| Paul Seaton
|

Hi Paul -

How do you have the 120GB PATA drive jumpered?

Most SATA adaptors require that the drive be jumpered in the Master
position.
Click to expand...

Hi,

I tried it on master.
No joy.
The fact that the BIOS doesn't even see it must tell us something no ?
(I've no idea what, of course ..)
 
Hi, Paul.

Maybe I can help just a little. My mobo has SATA and PATA connectors. I
have NO SATA drives, just 2 PATAs plus a single SCSI drive connected to an
Adaptec SCSI host adapter. The SCSI drive is normally my boot device.
I read a lot on this ng & elsewhere about having to load the xp drivers
for
SATA from a floppy by hitting F6 etc etc.. but if there is already one
functional SATA drive in there (which there is) , presumably I don't have
to
do this again for the second HD ??
Click to expand...

The F6 procedure is needed only for the BOOT device. Since you are already
booting from your SATA drive, you are already past that bottleneck. A
secondary drive that will not be used to boot the computer does not need
this. Its drivers can be installed like other devices: by letting WinXP
detect it if it's plug-n-play, or from a CD or other media it's not.

I haven't tried an ATA/SATA adapter, so I can't guess why your drive is not
recognized when connected this way. I haven't seen a mobo without two
single PATA channels, even if it has SATA, too.
(Yes the BIOS is configured with the relevant SATA MB input
'active' )
Click to expand...

You said you jumpered the drive as Master. Have you tried it as Cable
Select?

How many SATA connectors does your mobo have? Mine (EPoX 8KDA3+) actually
has six! Two (SATA1 and SATA2) are "standard equipment" and their
connectors are near the AGP slot on the mobo. The other 4 are "optional"
and are located near the lower right corner of the mobo, near the "optional"
Silicon Image SiI3114 S-ATA controller chip. Since I have no SATA drives,
I've not had to learn how to enable all these connectors, but I would guess
that I will have to enable the standard and the optional groups separately.
Are you sure you don't need to enable that second connector separately?

Do you need to install a driver for that second SATA connector? Did you get
a CD-ROM with drivers on it? My mobo came with a CD-ROM containing drivers
for several functions: on-board sound, on-board LAN, SATA RAID, USB 2.0,
etc.

I hope some of this is useful to you. ;^}

RC
 
R. C. White said:
Hi, Paul.

Maybe I can help just a little. My mobo has SATA and PATA connectors. I
have NO SATA drives, just 2 PATAs plus a single SCSI drive connected to an
Adaptec SCSI host adapter. The SCSI drive is normally my boot device.
Click to expand...

R.C. ,
The F6 procedure is needed only for the BOOT device. Since you are already
booting from your SATA drive, you are already past that bottleneck.
Click to expand...


Excellent. I learned something. Thanks.


A
secondary drive that will not be used to boot the computer does not need
this. Its drivers can be installed like other devices: by letting WinXP
detect it if it's plug-n-play, or from a CD or other media it's not.

I haven't tried an ATA/SATA adapter, so I can't guess why your drive is not
recognized when connected this way. I haven't seen a mobo without two
single PATA channels, even if it has SATA, too.
Click to expand...

It's a Dell Dimension 8400.
One ATA channel. (has both CD /DVD drives on it )
Four SATA.
One floppy channel.
You said you jumpered the drive as Master. Have you tried it as Cable
Select?
Click to expand...

Not yet.
I've been staring at that ATA hard drive thinking 'I'm going to try again
with you' for about a week.
But since I always end up having a nervous breakdown at around 3 am after 8
hours futile messing around, I need to store some positive energy first ..
:-)
How many SATA connectors does your mobo have?
Click to expand...

Four.

Mine (EPoX 8KDA3+) actually
has six! Two (SATA1 and SATA2) are "standard equipment" and their
connectors are near the AGP slot on the mobo. The other 4 are "optional"
and are located near the lower right corner of the mobo, near the "optional"
Silicon Image SiI3114 S-ATA controller chip. Since I have no SATA drives,
I've not had to learn how to enable all these connectors, but I would guess
that I will have to enable the standard and the optional groups
Click to expand...
separately.

It's easy to enable them in 'SETUP' in the BIOS.
Just that a newly enabled #2 SATA connection just doesn't seem to get
enabled, in so far as the BIOS still can't see the drive.
Maybe the ATA/SATA adapter is flaky ?
But I have no way to test that, & it's unlikely, I would think.

Are you sure you don't need to enable that second connector separately?
Click to expand...

That's what I did.
Explicitly, in SETUP.
Doesn't seem to help.
Do you need to install a driver for that second SATA connector?
Click to expand...

Maybe I need to, but I haven't, as yet.
The Dell documentation for installing 2nd SATA HD just says plug it in &
enable the connection in the BIOS.
Done that.
My ATA - posing-as-SATA drive should be appearing to the MB as SATA, I guess
?
But it's appearing as ... nothing.

I'll check the MB CD ( assuming Dell gave me one....)


Did you get
a CD-ROM with drivers on it? My mobo came with a CD-ROM containing drivers
for several functions: on-board sound, on-board LAN, SATA RAID, USB 2.0,
etc.
Click to expand...

I'll try 'cable select' & check the MB CD for drivers / more documentation.
I hope some of this is useful to you. ;^}
Click to expand...

Sure, thanks v much for the suggestions.
I'll let you know what results..

Regards,
 
OK, I tried with the ATA HD as 'cable select'.

Damn.

No joy.

The BIOS still don't see it.

I better just buy myself a SATA drive. Anyone want a 120 GB ATA Maxtor HD
??? :-)
 
I have the same issue! I have a brans spanking new Dell 8400 with a WD
80gb SATA. I went out and bought a Seagate 200gb ATA HDD, not realizing
the Dell was SATA! duh!
Anyway, I also bought a Promise Ultra133 TX2 ATA Controller in hopes to
get the Seagate to be seen by the Dell. Well, the Dell sees the
controller fine. But the Seagate - in XP Disk Management you can see it
but not in Windows Explorer! I have no jumpers on the Seagate right
now and it says something about secondary slave. I found on the web
that the jumper might need to be in setting s 3/4 to be seen as a
slave. Paul, give that a try. I'm going to try this weekend to get this
thing to work.
Once, I get it working, I'll post so we all can have a reference.
The ATA HDD's are slowly phazing out, so there's some good deals on
them. It would be nice to know how to get them to work with a SATA
system!
 
Hi, Paul.

One quickie question...
But the Seagate - in XP Disk Management you can see it
but not in Windows Explorer!
Click to expand...

Windows Explorer never sees the physical drives. But if you use Disk
Management to create at least one partition, assign a "drive" letter and
format it, then Explorer should be able to see that "drive".

RC
 
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