I'd like some help with installing SATA

[ManDooM]

I'm replacing my IDE hdd with a couple SATA drives. The board I'm using is an Abit NF7-S rev 2 nForce 2 with the latest bios. I have a couple questions about it. I've gone to abit's site but it's been down for an hour and my mobo's docs don't help with SATA instalation.

I looked at the included floppy that came with the mobo but it only has SATA drivers for intel, via, and SI. I've read that this board uses an SI sata controller but there are still a couple versions of it on the disk, and I don't know which one to use. (when their site is back up I'll see if they have newer ones, too)

Anyway, I'm not sure where to start. Do I need to make a boot disk? Or do I get the system running before I install the drivers? Talk to me like I've never done this before... thanks for your help!

 

[o1die]

For a fresh install using a windows cd, you'll need to use f6 when prompted and install the sata driver, usually on a separate floppy. You'll also need to enable the raid and sata feature in the bios (if needed). I did an exact copy of an old ide to my new maxtor sata yesterday using maxblast 3 (as a bootdisk), and it installed the Intel sata driver automatically during the copying process. This was a single drive to drive copy with both disks having an 8 meg cache, and it took about 40 minutes. I've never used a raid array, so someone will have to help you if that's what you're doing.

 

[jjzelinski]

1.) Fist off, go into your SATA bios and set your raid up. It's very easy, only a few commands are necessary. Now if you're lucky (and I don't think you will be unfortunately since you're running the SI chipset) it will format your new raid array for you in the BIOS. If not, you can try the step below or the alternative which I will describe afterwards.

2.) You need to segregate the files for your particular chipset and OS from your CD, put it on a floppy, boot with a bootable WinXP and start your installation. When you first see the blue install screen you will briefly see a prompt to press F6 to install any third party drivers; this is when/where you will install the drivers for your chipset. Press F6 and THEN insert your floppy disk (don't do it before, it's quirky and may not recognize the disk if it's in when you get to the blue screen.) Select the driver, and viola; you should have you're raid array recognized as your C: drive and you can proceed with the format and installation as you normally would.

a.) Now, if the above DOESN'T work, ensure you've done step 1 and then add your array to the system with a hard drive that you already have the OS on and running properly. Go into you system manager (right click the My Computer icon and select manage), then start up your drive manager. Find your unformatted Raid array drive, mount it, create a dynamic disk (whichever one comes first, don't remember) and then proceed to format it. When it's done, go back to step 2.) and it should work for you.

Now that I've typed all this crap I realize you've never even mentioned setting up a Raid array, but I've already gone through the effort of describing the process so I figure I'll just keep it there

That being said, HERE'S YOUR ACTUALY ANSWER:

Borrowing from step 1.), segregate the driver appropriate for your chipset and OS from the CD or diskette to a separate diskette. In your case it sounds like you need the SI 3112 WinXP driver. Once you have it on a floppy, boot into your OS installation as described in 1.) and press F6 when prompted. Select your driver, and then you're good to go to proceed with install as you normally would.

Hope this helps