New to SATA. Some questions....

[rhinoman7]

I currently have two ATA drives: The first is a 40GB which is partitioned into 30GB (System-boot drive-C: ) and 10GB (Data drive-E: ). The second is a 120GB used for capturing video. I am planning on installing a 320GB SATA drive (W-D), and would like to use this as my system/boot drive, and then use my 40GB drive strictly for data. My questions are:

1. Can I simply hook up the new SATA drive, and format it accordingly without touching my other drives?

2. Once the SATA drive is formatted and running, could I then copy my current C: drive (30GB) to the SATA and then set this as the boot drive?

3. If #2 is not possible, would I then need to install Windows XP onto the SATA drive in order for this to be my new system/boot drive?

4. Once the SATA drive is the new system/boot drive, will it be designated as the C: drive? If not, is there a way to designate it as the C: drive?

Thanks!

 

[welsh]

Is your computer a premade computer like a Dell or a HP?

 

[rhinoman7]

No, it is not a premade computer. I built it myself.

 

[suppafreak]

It is possible to do if your motherboard has onboard SATA connectors. If it does than it should be either 2, 4 or in some cases 6 SATA on board connections. Usually by default the SATA configured as IDE and once the drive is connected it will try to boot. You will need to plug the Boot drive into SATA connector 1. Check the motherboard manual under SATA section. It should be pretty easy and straightforward.

Now if your motherboard does not have any SATA onboard connections than you can buy a PCI SATA card and connect the drive that way. I am sure the drive can boot that way also.

If you have 4 SATA connectors you can also buy the PATA to SATA adapter and connect your IDE drives to the SATA connectors.

http://www.addonics.com/products/io/ide_sata.asp

This will eliminate the wide ATA cables and create more airflow inside the computer.