Installing SATA drivers

[DPolishSensation]

I dont build my PC's with floppys anymore and I was wondering if I can load the SATA drivers from a pen/flash drive instead of a floppy drive?

 

[erikistired]

i'm pretty sure you have to use a floppy or slipstream the drivers into the install cd.

 

[sswingle]

Depends on your BIOS. Some will let you do it.

 

[arsbanned]

I thought Windows required the use of a floppy to load any specialty drivers during installation. I didn't realize it was a function of the BIOS.

 

[stevty2889]

You won't be able to use a pen drive for the SATA drivers, the Windows Installation will only look for them on a floppy drive, no floppy drive, it will not find the drivers, or even look for them anywhere else, although I suppose it's possible if your BIOS will emulate the pen drive as a floppy drive. You could also slipstream the drivers on to a windows CD, then you won't need a floppy.

 

[SUOrangeman]

For 2K/XP/2K3 and later, if your motherboard chipset supports SATA, then you shouldn't need drivers just to install the OS. These chipsets include anything later than the 865 from Intel and nForce3 and later. I don't know about any of Via's chipsets. Keep in mind that some boards may have an additional SATA controller onboard aside from the ones connected directly to the chipset.

For the DOS-based Windows releases (95/98/98SE/ME), the drive controllers may have a native mode that won't require any drivers until the OS is actually up and running.

As far as I know, slipstreaming drivers into a Windows OS is only an option with XP/2K3 ... and maybe 2K. Since the OS wasn't explicitly stated, I figured that I would put it out there.

-SUO