SATA Hard Drive and XP - can I do this?

[Stephen]

Hi

I need to install the biggest HD I can afford
(for video work) - my motherboard doesn't
support SATA.

I have been told that I can buy a PCI card that
will support SATA.

The SATA drive must not contain the OS.
It must be JUST for saving video files.

I have 2 questions;

1) Can a SATA drive be configured as a Slave drive?

2) Before I buy one - are they easy to configure with XP Home
(I have read some horror stories - about XP and SATA)

Any help or advice would be very welcome.

Thank you in advance.

Regards, Stephen

 

[Kerry Brown]

Hi

I need to install the biggest HD I can afford
(for video work) - my motherboard doesn't
support SATA.

I have been told that I can buy a PCI card that will support SATA.

The SATA drive must not contain the OS.
It must be JUST for saving video files.
I have 2 questions;

1) Can a SATA drive be configured as a Slave drive?

No, Each SATA drive will be connected to it's own port on the SATA. There is
only one drive per cable. If you mean will it be a secondary drive to your
primary then yes it can be configured that way and probably is by default
depending on the card and your motherboard.

2) Before I buy one - are they easy to configure with XP Home
(I have read some horror stories - about XP and SATA)

It depends on your motherboard and which SATA controller card you purchase.
Usually the problems occur when you are trying to boot from the SATA drive.
As you are not trying to boot from the drive Windows will probably pop up a
add new hardware dialog the first time the computer is started after adding
the new card. Follow the manufacturer's instructions for installing the
driver.

 

[Sparda]

Hi

I need to install the biggest HD I can afford
(for video work) - my motherboard doesn't
support SATA.

I have been told that I can buy a PCI card that
will support SATA.

The SATA drive must not contain the OS.
It must be JUST for saving video files.

I have 2 questions;

1) Can a SATA drive be configured as a Slave drive?

2) Before I buy one - are they easy to configure with XP Home
(I have read some horror stories - about XP and SATA)

Any help or advice would be very welcome.

Thank you in advance.

Regards, Stephen

SATA dose not have "slave/master" style drive interface. And any one
who couldnt get there SATA hard drive working will not have configured
it correctly, it very easy to do.