SATA question

Pardon my stupidity but I have not used sata drives in the past. I
see there are three connection plugs available for them . I want to use
a 250 GB drive as a master not in raid. One plug goes from the drive to
the board. Another is a power plug from the power supply. I see a third
connector from the power supply, a flat multiconnector plug. Does this
plug into the drive?Can I use this drive as the windows installation
drive after fdisking and partitioning? Any suggestions will be appreciated.

"mwebsurfer" wrote...
Pardon my stupidity but I have not used sata drives in the past. I
see there are three connection plugs available for them . I want to use a 250
GB drive as a master not in raid. One plug goes from the drive to the board.
Another is a power plug from the power supply. I see a third
connector from the power supply, a flat multiconnector plug. Does this plug
into the drive?Can I use this drive as the windows installation drive after
fdisking and partitioning?

Some SATA HDs have both SATA and molex power connectors. Use one or the other;
not both.

Assuming a "normal" modern system BIOS, you can use any type (ATA, SATA, SCSI,
CD, floppy) drive as the primary boot drive.

Pardon my stupidity but I have not used sata drives in the past. I
see there are three connection plugs available for them . I want to use a
250 GB drive as a master not in raid. One plug goes from the drive to the
board. Another is a power plug from the power supply. I see a third
connector from the power supply, a flat multiconnector plug. Does this
plug into the drive?

Not all SATA drives have three connectors and it usually depends
on who the manufacturer is. One connector is for the data and hooks
up to the motherboard. The other one or two connectors are for power
(molex and SATA style) and only one should be hooked up at a time. Many
Western Digital models use both types of power connectors while Seagate ones
do
not. Older power supplies only come with molex connectors and one would
need an adapter if the SATA hard drive didn't support.

Can I use this drive as the windows installation drive after fdisking and
partitioning?

Sure can. SATA drives are used just like IDE PATA drives. Not all
versions of Windows include the required SATA controller driver
needed for installation. In that case, you would need to press the
F6 key at the beginning of the Windows installation and then
tell it to look on a floppy disk for the required driver. That driver
comes with the motherboard CD.

If you already have Windows installed on another hard drive (whether
it's IDE or SATA), then all you need to do is hook up an SATA drive
and access it Windows.


---
Kevin Chalker, Owner (KC COMPUTERS)
E-mail: Web: www.kc-computers.com
Internet dealer since 1991!!! See WWW.RESELLERRATINGS.COM!!!

This can be tricky, and most builders don't know that and
generate a flakey system ... or a slow system running off the
generic Microsoft drivers by allowing Windows install to
autodetect the drive .. and not using the mobo chipset
drivers. Several steps you need to take to get it right.
I'm assuming you have a modern mobo and psupply with
proper SATA power connector.

1. Hook up the SATA data cable to SATA 0
2. Hook up the SATA psupply connector to the SATA
power connector.
3. Do not put an IDE drive on the primary IDE port, put
it ( cdrom ) on the secondary IDE port on the mobo.
4. Boot your pc, and note if the SATA drive is detected
during the initial boot up. If not, go into the BIOS, and
disable the RAID. Then see if your system detects
the SATA drive ( lists it right after the IDE drives ). It
should ... or you need to call tech support at the
manufacturer of your mobo ( not your sales vendor ).
5. Go to another computer with your mobo driver disk, and
a clean new floppy disk. Explore the CD and look for
a directory called BootDrv. In that directory, run a program
called MENU. That will unpack the drivers you need
for the SATA on the proper mobo chipset, and copy
them to the floppy. Note: MENU will give you a list of
options. Select the RAID drivers ... and it will probably
load 2 different drivers that are needed. NOTE: if you
do what most people do and just copy those drivers
from the "drivers" folder ... they may not be unpacked,
and they will not load properly during the install.
6. Now boot the WinXP with SP2 cd, and hit F6 right at
the startup of the install. In a few minutes, you will be
prompted to hit "S" to install SATA drivers. Note: there
may be 2 required drivers ( marked required ). Load
both by hitting S twice. Then you are good to go with
the proper drivers loaded for your mobo chipset.

johns

On Sat, 25 Feb 2006 05:07:55 GMT, Tommy
wrote:

On 26 Jan 2006 KC Computers wrote in alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt

Not all SATA drives have three connectors and it usually depends
on who the manufacturer is. One connector is for the data and hooks
up to the motherboard. The other one or two connectors are for power
(molex and SATA style) and only one should be hooked up at a time.
Many Western Digital models use both types of power connectors while
Seagate ones do not.

My new Seagate drive has three connectors, none of which are the old kind of
4 pin connectors but rather a wide connector on one side and a small 4 pin
connector on the other side with the SATA data cable connector in the center.
My PS has nothing that would fit the small 4 pin connector.

It's for factory use only. Do not connect anything to it.