Buying SATA drive for first time...

[Sulaco]

Hey guys,

I'm probably going to be buying the Seagate 200Gb SATA drive at newegg for $117 in the next few minutes, but want to make sure I understand what needs to be done first. I'm still a little sketchy.

I have the Chaintech VNF3-250 motherobard, which includes 2 SATA Power connectors and 2 SATA cables, as well as an onboard sata connector, so I guess I'm good to go there.

I'll be using WinXP, and understand I must have drivers available on a floppy to install Windows, correct? When will it prompt me for the the drivers? On the Windows install screen or actually in BIOS?

Also, exactly what drivers will I need? I'm confused on this. Do I download the drivers from Seagate's site? Someone mentioned something making a bootable floppy of my motherboard drivers, but I'm a little confused as to what "motherboard drivers" they are referring.

If anyone could give me a few simple pointers with this, It'd be very much appreciated. Thanks!

 

[effee]

It will prompt you to insert the disk during BIOS. Its simple to make, so dont worry. I dont know what mobo drivers you're talking about, everytime i reinstall all i have to do is reinstall my hdd and after that its just like a normal format

 

[Sulaco]

Thanks for the reply.

What I'm mostly confused about is exactly what "drivers" or data I need on that floppy disk. Some say I need to download it from my HDD makers website, others say my motherboard driver disk should have SATA drivers on it.

I'm just confused about that. What do I need to put on that floppy to let the HDD install Windows correctly?

Thanks

 

[boomerang]

Unless you're setting up a RAID array, you shouldn't need any drivers to install XP at all. SATA is natively supported by your chipset.

There is an F6 prompt early in the XP install for third party drivers. You should be able to skip over that and proceed as normal.

You should take a close look at your BIOS as you may need to set your system to boot off a SATA drive.

One important point. If you plan on also having an IDE HD in your system, do not install it until your system is up and booting off your SATA drive. Windows has a tendency to get "confused" with both drives in the system on initial install. It may just pick your IDE drive by mistake.

Just for reference, SATA drivers whether RAID or otherwise, are always obtained from your motherboard or chipset manufacturer, never from the maker of the Hard Drive. The HD itself does not need drivers to function, the motherboard needs them to recognize the drive.

 

[Oyeve]

Your XP install disk needs to be SP1 I beleive to get the full size of your SATA drive, the HD should come with a cd or floppy with drivers on it. try installing xp the regular way and if that craps out hit F6 when prompted and load the cd or floppy and see if that works.

 

[Sulaco]

Thanks for the replies guys, you've been very helpful.

It's an OEM drive, so I believe it's "drive only" (according to Newegg), which is why I don't believe there are any drivers with it.

My Windows XP CD does not have SP1 preloaded on it. I do, however, have an MS security update CD which has Win XP that I always load up after reformatting a drive.

 

[Ka0t1x]

There's a guide to slipstreaming if you would like it, it's not hard just takes a little computer/software know-how. Text
-If you need help just PM me.