Only want one Hard Drive

aaaheavy

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Oct 14, 2001
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ECS PT800CE-A Mobo
Via Chipsets, PT800ce(NB), VT8237(SB)
(1) WD3200AAJS HDD (320 GB SATA)
3.0 Ghz Intel CPU (800 MHz - SL6WK)
2GB 400 PC3200 Memory

Hi,

I'm upgrading my old computer for the last time. I've been running parallel ATA hard drives since there invention and have decided to use the newer SATA drive this time around.

I only wanted to run one hard drive on this computer. The problem I have, are the choices I have with this motherboard. In the manual it says that I can use Raid 0 (Redundant array of independent drives), Raid 1 (Striping) Raid 2 (Mirroring), or JBOD (Spanning).

The way it is worded, it sounds like I must run two hard drives to take advantage of this SATA techno. Do I really have to buy a second hard drive to use SATA with this board? I only have/want to use one hard drive!

Hope somebody can Help :D
Thanks, aaaheavy
 

aaaheavy

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Oct 14, 2001
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Hi,

So, I 'CAN' only run one harddrive?

I wondered about that, but I couldn't find anything in the manual. They only spoke of Raid and multiple hard drives. I guess they assumed everyone knows this already. ;)

I guess I'll still have to deal with the XP driver on the floppy?

This is great. I'll be happy once I see the OS on the screen. :bounce:

Thanks a lot for the great info!

aaaheavy
 

Paperdoc

Polypheme
Ambassador
If you plan to install XP fresh onto your new SATA drive, you most certainly can do the AHCI driver installation from floppy so that the SATA drive can use AHCI mode. (On an older mobo there just might not be an AHCI option, they might call it just Native SATA.)

The other option, if it is in your mobo's BIOS, is to have the SATA drive pretend it is an IDE drive. Within BIOS Setup go to where the SATA ports are managed and make sure the SATA port(s) are Enabled. Look very close to there for a place to set the port mode. Options usually are IDE (or PATA) Emulation, Native SATA, AHCI, or RAID. If you set Native SATA or AHCI, you will have to load a driver from floppy in the Win XP Install process. But choose the IDE (or PATA) Emulation option and the BIOS will fool Windows into thinking the drive is only an IDE unit it fully understands, and no driver needs to be installed - it just works! Doing this means you do miss out on a few advanced features of AHCI devices, but if you don't care about this, this is a way to avoid the driver install from floppy step.
 

aaaheavy

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Oct 14, 2001
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Hi,
Thanks for the nice information. I have noted it and will refer to it the next time I install a SATA.

Unfortunately that HDD was bad and refused to be read by the BIOS. I am now waiting for a new one from WD.
Many Thanks, aaaheavy :D