Hey so I have 2 IDE drives right now working fine but they are full to the brim so I got a 500gb sata drive for data storage since I have no more IDE slots to use I hook it up says machine says "bios does not installed". \Which does not make any sense its like bad english but it boots anyways off my IDE master. I log into windows and go to see if it can see it an all in (right click my computer, manage) and its not there no even to initialize it what do I do?
treefrog07
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jitpublisher
Splendid
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So, did you enable your SATA controller, and do you have it in IDE mode? If you are using XP, you will have to set it to IDE mode.
Is the drive SATA II? If so, is the controller you have it plugged into SATA II as well? If it is only SATA I, does the drive have a jumper you can set to make it compatible with the SATA I controller? Some drives are backwards compatible automatically, some require you to set a jumper, if this is your case.
As the other posts indicate, there are three steps necessary to install a new SATA HDD in a machine that has had only IDE dries so far.
1. Physically mount inside, attach power and data cables (done).
2. As soon as you turn on power, hold down the "Del" key so it boots into your BIOS Setup screens. There you need to make two settings in the place where SATA drives are managed. First is to Enable the SATA port. Then set its mode to IDE (or PATA) Emulation for the easiest way in Win XP. Save and Exit to store these new settings and boot up into Windows.
3. You must do two things to the new HDD before Windows can use it: Create a Partition on the disk that will be used as a drive, and then Format that new drive. These steps both can be done using the tools in Disk Management. You outlined how you got to Computer Management, did not say you clicked on Disk Management, but maybe you did. Disk Management shows you TWO panes on the right, each of them scrolling so you can see their full contents. A new disk will NOT be in the upper pane - it only has drives Windows already can use. It will be only in the LOWER RIGHT pane. It will have nothing but Unallocated Space. You RIGHT-click on that and choose to Create a Primary Partition, set its size, and decide whether it is bootable or not. If you only plan to use it to store and retrieve data, don't make it bootable. On the other hand, if you plan to clone your existing boot drive to this new one and make it take over as the C: drive, you should be doing things a little different, so stop here and tell us that. Anyway, assuming a non-bootable data drive use, from here there are two routes depending on what the screen shows you. If there really are no other choices, you complete the Partition Creation step. When it's done you RIGHT-click on that new Partition and choose this time to Format it. Choose the NTFS File System unless you really know you need FAT32. Choose Quick Format (10 to 15 minutes) unless you want to let it do a thorough disk test that takes many hours! The other "route" I mentioned is that some systems will have given you a Wizard that combines setting Partition and Format options into one step instead of two. Anyway, when the Format is finished you exit out of Disk Manager, reboot, and start to use the drive.
The Partition and Format operations, alternatively, can be made even simpler if you download from the website of your disk maker their free utility that "prepares" or "initializes" a new HDD for Windows' use.
VERY IMPORTANT: Before you start on this, what version of Win XP are you running? If it is the original version with no Service Packs installed, it cannot handle any disk over 128 GB. In that case you must update your Win XP to the latest version (SP3) BEFORE trying to Partition and Format. However, do not worry about "updating your BIOS". ANY SATA drive and its mobo controller can handle big drives. The only thing you MIGHT need to update is Win XP.
1. Physically mount inside, attach power and data cables (done).
2. As soon as you turn on power, hold down the "Del" key so it boots into your BIOS Setup screens. There you need to make two settings in the place where SATA drives are managed. First is to Enable the SATA port. Then set its mode to IDE (or PATA) Emulation for the easiest way in Win XP. Save and Exit to store these new settings and boot up into Windows.
3. You must do two things to the new HDD before Windows can use it: Create a Partition on the disk that will be used as a drive, and then Format that new drive. These steps both can be done using the tools in Disk Management. You outlined how you got to Computer Management, did not say you clicked on Disk Management, but maybe you did. Disk Management shows you TWO panes on the right, each of them scrolling so you can see their full contents. A new disk will NOT be in the upper pane - it only has drives Windows already can use. It will be only in the LOWER RIGHT pane. It will have nothing but Unallocated Space. You RIGHT-click on that and choose to Create a Primary Partition, set its size, and decide whether it is bootable or not. If you only plan to use it to store and retrieve data, don't make it bootable. On the other hand, if you plan to clone your existing boot drive to this new one and make it take over as the C: drive, you should be doing things a little different, so stop here and tell us that. Anyway, assuming a non-bootable data drive use, from here there are two routes depending on what the screen shows you. If there really are no other choices, you complete the Partition Creation step. When it's done you RIGHT-click on that new Partition and choose this time to Format it. Choose the NTFS File System unless you really know you need FAT32. Choose Quick Format (10 to 15 minutes) unless you want to let it do a thorough disk test that takes many hours! The other "route" I mentioned is that some systems will have given you a Wizard that combines setting Partition and Format options into one step instead of two. Anyway, when the Format is finished you exit out of Disk Manager, reboot, and start to use the drive.
The Partition and Format operations, alternatively, can be made even simpler if you download from the website of your disk maker their free utility that "prepares" or "initializes" a new HDD for Windows' use.
VERY IMPORTANT: Before you start on this, what version of Win XP are you running? If it is the original version with no Service Packs installed, it cannot handle any disk over 128 GB. In that case you must update your Win XP to the latest version (SP3) BEFORE trying to Partition and Format. However, do not worry about "updating your BIOS". ANY SATA drive and its mobo controller can handle big drives. The only thing you MIGHT need to update is Win XP.
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