Installing SATA Drives

Danhill · Mar 18, 2004, 01:43 AM

I finally ordered a WD Raptor and another SATA drive from Maxtor. I was thinking of having the Raptor as mainly Windows drive and perhaps some games and the Maxtor drive as storage. I have a IDE drive now and was planning to copy some files from it to the Maxtor drive. My question is; Do I have to do anything special when installing 2 SATA drives as I never done this before??

Danhill · Mar 18, 2004, 02:37 AM

Another question; Should I defrag or not??

Logla · Mar 18, 2004, 03:08 AM

All you will need to do is tell the bios (and that includes the SATA bios also - the one you will see during boot once you enable sata in the main bios) that you are running 2 drives not in raid.
Stick the Raptor on the first channel and the maxtor on the second.

Install windows on the raptor before copying the files over and one you have the windows build up and running with all your drivers etc you can then start to copy the files from the IDE drive.

You should definatly defrag once all the files are copied over.

Danhill · Mar 18, 2004, 03:20 AM

Thanks Logla, So first off I need to go into the BIOS and turn on the SATA feature, the reboot and install XP as normal. Then when thats is done I will connect my IDE drive to cpoy some files to the other SATA drive, but will I need to change somethin in the BIOS when connecting the IDE drive to copy files?? Again thanks Logla

Danhill · Mar 23, 2004, 01:48 AM

I've installed the 2 drives yesterday and looked in the BIOS for the settings but it got me more confused, there are several settings to choose from (Disabled, Auto, Combined, Enchanced and SATA only). After reading the manual on the mainboard, well it didn't make any sense to me, so I run on the auto setting, the Raptor is Master and the Maxtor is Slave. So my question is; Is there someone out there with the same mainboard as mine (ABIT IC7-G) and also 2 satas as mine to telle my what settings you choosed??

Danhill · Mar 23, 2004, 03:06 AM

No one

Vampyromaniac · Mar 23, 2004, 04:56 AM

gotta give it some time, mate. not all replies come immediately

Now, does Windows recognize bot the drives? (can you see both of them in Explorer?)

Danhill · Mar 23, 2004, 04:59 AM

I'am just anxious to get replies thats all, just like a little bayby

Yes they do, and both drives runs just fine, but as it's several settings in the BIOS, I was only curios what setting I should be running.

Vampyromaniac · Mar 23, 2004, 05:02 AM

Well, it seems like the Auto setting is working fine then. It's doing its job

Danhill · Mar 23, 2004, 05:05 AM

That's right but as I was born very curios I was wondering if perhaps other settings in the BIOS might be better.

Hosscrop · Mar 23, 2004, 06:03 AM

I actually have 2 SATA drives and both running in Auto mode as I didn`t know what to set them to either. At the moment I have 1 on the Silicon Image controller and 1 on the onboard controller but have had it both on either controller. I am not running in RAID mode and have not gone into the RAID controller settings to tell it not to as it doesn`t run RAID unless you ask it to.

To answer your question about whats best - sorry I don`t know. But it works fine as is so I left it.

P4 3.0C 800FSB
2Gig Corsair Twinx3200 LL memory (2 off Twinx 1024Mb)
2 off 120G WD 7200 SATA150
Hercules 9800 Pro
Coolermaster ATCS 210 case
Plextor Premium CDRW
SB Audigy 2
Plextor PX-708A
MS Explorer Mouse
Cherry Keyboard

Danhill · Mar 23, 2004, 06:44 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Hosscrop
I actually have 2 SATA drives and both running in Auto mode as I didn`t know what to set them to either. At the moment I have 1 on the Silicon Image controller and 1 on the onboard controller but have had it both on either controller. I am not running in RAID mode and have not gone into the RAID controller settings to tell it not to as it doesn`t run RAID unless you ask it to.

To answer your question about whats best - sorry I don`t know. But it works fine as is so I left it.

P4 3.0C 800FSB
2Gig Corsair Twinx3200 LL memory (2 off Twinx 1024Mb)
2 off 120G WD 7200 SATA150
Hercules 9800 Pro
Coolermaster ATCS 210 case
Plextor Premium CDRW
SB Audigy 2
Plextor PX-708A
MS Explorer Mouse
Cherry Keyboard

Thanks, well then I maybe should let it be as it is. What MB do you have?

Logla · Mar 23, 2004, 08:03 AM

By the looks of things, your board has chosen SATA only. That would be the only one to use. I'm not that sure what enhanced is but combined uses the IDE controller somehow. I think its to do with setting raid arrays.

SATA only is the only one you would choose apart from Auto, and if you did choose sata only then you would need to make sure it was set to whatever option you have other than RAID as your not running a raid array.

Danhill · Mar 23, 2004, 08:09 AM

Thanks Logla, when I come home I will set it on SATA Only.

Hosscrop · Mar 23, 2004, 08:37 AM

I knew I had missed something off. Abit IC7-G mainboard.