Some newbie SATA questions..

[Raphael Argus]

I've been reading about installing a SATA hard disk and I had a few questions.

I understand when you install your OS, in my case it will be XP, during install you want to hit F6 to install the SATA drivers.
Is it true these must be installed from a floppy disk? I have a floppy, it's currently disconnected. My motherboard came with a install CD, no disks. Browsing the CD I do see a directory for RAID.

What is RAID?

On the manufacturer website for my mobo below,
http://ecsusa.com/downloads/848p-a-v1.html
it lists Intel SATA raid driver, the file is 7mbs which obviously won't fit on a floppy.

Is there another file I need to use?
My MOBO is a Elitegroup ECS 848p-a. It does not say anything about what version it is, so I'm guessing it's V1.0. Any help locating the correct file or files for SATA drivers would be appreciated.

I also noticed my MOBO says it supports serial ATA and next to that on the box it says 10/100. Many of the hard disks I've seen say 10/150 or higher. Can I still use those and they will just operate at a slower speed?

Sorry for all the questions, I really don't know much about anything other then IDE. I just realized today that SATA drives use a different power cable that you have to have on your PSU or get some type of adapter.

Any help with any answers would be appreciated.

Thanks all!

 

[mike4realz]

RAID stands for Redundant Array of Independent (or Inexpensive) Disks, a category of disk drives that employ two or more drives in combination for fault tolerance and performance

if u have a motherboard that has sata connections, u don't need to install sata drivers when u install xp. u only install the sata drivers if u installed a serial ata card on one of ur PCI slots.

and also, there are only two types of Serial ATA. SATA/150 (or SATA) and SATAII/300 (or SATAII)

and if u bought a SATA hard drive, it'll come wid a SATA power adapter. exept for oem. they only cum wid hard drive itself

and oh yeah, if u r going to set up a SATA RAID 0, that's when u need the drivers for it that u can get at the manufacturer's website

 

[Raphael Argus]

Thanks, Mike.

I plan to setup my OS with just the new SATA drive, once that is running well can I add in my previous IDE drive as a slave so I can copy over some of my files?

Just making sure there won't be any problems running the SATA as master and an IDE as slave. My primary WD drive is dying, so it would only be temporary so I can copy over some of my files.

 

[shenlingstyle]

Um actually what he said isn't exactly 100% correct.

You do need drivers depending on what mobo you have. For my ASUS I had to install drivers despite the fact that it has SATA connections. My friend on the other hand didn't.

In my mobo cd there was a folder called SATA, which really has nothing to do with RAID. If you can't find it, don't worry, because I didn't either at first. If you have another comp then you can do the following.

If your OS won't install unless you install drivers, then just press F6 and insert a random floppy. Eventually it should specifiy that it can't find a specific file, and give you a file name. Then use another computer to search for that file on your cd and copy that and whatever files that are in the same directory onto the floppy.

As for your backup issue, why not back up that stuff on cds or dvds now, since you say your drive is dying. But either way it should work.

 

[Raphael Argus]

So, Shenling, if I do require the files they really MUST be installed from a floppy? It won't allow you to browse a CD for the file?

I appreciate the help. I have a second PC so it should make things alot easier. My second PC does not have a floppy drive, so this could be a pain (swapping out drives) unless anyone knows the file I will need for my MOBO and I can download it in advance and write it to a floppy.

 

[mike4realz]

Um actually what he said isn't exactly 100% correct.

oops forgot to mention, if ur XP has SP2, u don't have to press F6 to install SATA drivers.

if u don't have XP wid SP2, then u do need to install the SATA drivers first

 

[mike4realz]

I plan to setup my OS with just the new SATA drive, once that is running well can I add in my previous IDE drive as a slave so I can copy over some of my files?

yes u can and it doesn't matter if that IDE drive is either master or slave unless u have another IDE drive that is connected to the same channel (or IDE cable)

 

[mike4realz]

So, Shenling, if I do require the files they really MUST be installed from a floppy? It won't allow you to browse a CD for the file?

yes u do need them to be installed from a floppy but like i said, if u have XP wid SP2, u don't need to install the SATA drivers

 

[Raphael Argus]

Thanks, my XP pro copy is ancient, doesn't have SP1 or SP2. Will MS allow you to upgrade to a CD with both on it for a discounted price? I am getting sick of downloading SP1 and SP2 everytime I do a fresh install.

Also, what is the benefit of setting up RAID? The PC that I'll be installing the SATA drive on is basically used for net surfing and gaming.

 

[mike4realz]

u can slipstream ur XP cd wid SP2. that's how i did mine. u can google for it for tutorials but i found it easy using a program called nlite (http://www.nliteos.com/)

and like i said, the benefit of setting up RAID is for Hard Disk performance/fault tolerance...and also there are many types of RAID (RAID0,RAID3,RAID5 and such and blah blah blah)