DL said:
Same as any other drive, excepting you may have to enable sata/raid in the
bios or on the mobo by jumper. You also usually have to re set bios boot
order, and you may have to install sata/raid drivers from *floppy* using
F6
option during the install of winxp.
Basically read the mobo manual, either the book or on line at mobo site
CGB Spender:
Let me just reiterate and at the same time emphasize DL's comments for the
benefit of others who might also be installing a SATA HD or contemplate
doing so in the near future...
For the most part, installing a SATA HD can be no more difficult than
installing a PATA HD (what you've referred to as an "IDE drive"). Many
SATA-capable motherboards include a "built-in" SATA driver/controller so
that that annoying "F6 routine" need not be employed. In those cases, simply
connecting the SATA drive's signal/data cable to a motherboard's SATA
connector together with a PS connection is all that's necessary for the
system to recognize the SATA HD.
But, and it's a big "but"...
This SATA HD installation process has not been (unfortunately) standardized
among motherboard manufacturers in the same way the process of installing
PATA HDs has evolved over the years. It's frequently necessary, as DL has
indicated, to install SATA drivers/controllers through the F6 floppy disk
process. That the industry as a whole didn't come up with a standardized
basic & relatively simple process of installing SATA drives without the
insanity (there's no other word to describe it) of that F6 nonsense and the
need for auxiliary drivers to be installed (let alone a floppy disk!) is
beyond comprehension. It could, and should have, been done.
But even when you're fortunate enough to be able to install the SATA HD
without the need for the auxiliary drivers/controllers, in many cases this
or that BIOS element has to be set properly before the system will recognize
the SATA HD. This is particularly true in RAID configurations, but can be
equally true even when you're installing a single SATA HD. The moral of this
story is that YOU MUST READ (AND RE:READ) YOUR MOTHERBOARD'S USER MANUAL RE
THIS ISSUE. Each manufacturer treats this SATA installation process
differently (even extending to different motherboard models from the same
manufacturer). And to make matters more complicated, the "instructions"
contained in many of these motherboard's manuals re this SATA HD
installation process are frequently confusing, if not downright
incomprehensible, to many users. But you must persevere.
There's some talk of this issue sorting out with the release of the Vista
OS. We'll see.
As DL has pointed out, you may have to set the boot priority order in a way
that informs the system that you wish to first boot to the SATA HD when you
have another (boot) PATA HD installed. But in many cases the BIOS will
automatically assume this boot order when you install the SATA drive to the
first SATA connector on your motherboard. Naturally, should you wish to boot
to your PATA HD (assuming it's a bootable drive) you would need to set the
boot priority order accordingly.
Again, let me emphasize that it's critical to read your motherboard's user
manual re this issue.
Anna
