About to install Windows XP Pro

[evaD]

... but before I do, I was wondering if someone can tell me about the master/slave thing.
I have never really understood it.

Right now, I have my one SATA hard drive as the primary master, and the DVD drive as the secondary slave, set as the first boot drive.

Is that correct, or do I have to set the DVD as the master before installing the OS, or does it matter?

Also, what drivers will I need to have ready on a floppy drive during Windows installation?

Any help appreciated.

 

[birdpup]

primary/secondary and master/slave are designations required for IDE drives with either 40 or 80 pin ribbon cables. Older motherboards with IDE functionality require these ribbon cables, which consist of three connections. the first connection is for the motherboard, the second connection is for the secondary/slave, and the third connection is for the primary/master drive.

SATA drives connect to the motherboard with SATA1, SATA2, SATA3, SATA4 designations and do not require the primary/secondary and master/slave designations.

 

[MDE]

You should be good to go. If you have a current gen motherboard with a chipset that has integrated SATA you won't need any drivers on a floppy.

 

[Bozo Galora]

some sata controllers dont support opticals, espec those not native to mobo chipset

http://www.plextor.be/technicalservices...0tricks&language=English&printer=False

 

[evaD]

If the sata controllers on my Asus A8n-e don't support opticals, how do I install the OS? I've only got one drive - a BENQ 1640.
The hard drive is a Seagate 7200 160GB.

 

[evaD]

Can anyone recommend a partition strategy? I want to install both XP pro and Linux eventually.

 

[Bozo Galora]

You just put the benQ on one of the mobo IDE channels jumpered as master, and until you get your XP installed, you set boot order to it first. I just checked at newegg - benq doesnt make a 1640 in SATA.
However, now that you have told us you have a NF4 ultra mobo, you should have no prob.

As far as partitioning goes - this is quite surprisingly, one of those topics that causes controversy and flaming here. Since each person has his own favorite way to do things, they seem to think their way is the only way. I suggest a GH search.

Edit: XPSP2 has the generic SATA drivers with it. Anything earlier you would need to put the nforce SATA "RAID" drivers on a floppy, using your mobo CD. After install you could check the driver tab in dev manager of the SATA controller to make sure the drivers you wanted are actually installed.