Need help concerning SATA install

[Zenoth]

The situation is quite embarrassing.

Ok, I don't know much about hardware, and especially nothing about the SATA interface.

But today I went to my local store to buy new HDD's, and they are SATA Drives (both of them Seagate 7200.10 250GB, model name is ST3250410AS). I had a 10% rebate on both so I couldn't resist, and, after all, I had to move on to the newer technology, because I think that my current WD Caviar IDE Drives are starting to show signs of degradation.

So anyway ...

My current set-up are two HDD's, IDE Drives, from Western Digital. One is Master, one is Slave. So, with my new SATA Drives I just wanted to replace them both, of course, but the thing is I do not want to go with a RAID set-up, at least not for that particular Windows installation I'll have to make for one of the new SATA Drive to boot from (perhaps I'll do it but for another Windows install much later on).

And, well, I tried it, I tried to install that thing alone.

So I went into my BIOS (A8N-SLi Premium with BIOS 1009), then I disabled anything about IDE I could see, and enable the SATA Ports #1 and #2, then I after that I turned the system off, disconnected the power, and physically removed one of the IDE Drives (Slave), and then I replaced it with one of the new SATA Drive, which I wanted to test as my new "main" Drive with the new Windows installation for it of course.

I made sure to remove the power for the IDE Master Drive, even though it was still physically present in the case itself it wouldn't be turned on at all. So the only Drive that would be detected would be my SATA Drive, and that's what happened, it was indeed properly detected during POST, and it correctly showed 250GB, so I thought "hooray ! it's that simple ? nice !". So I proceeded to install Windows XP 32-Bit, which I did, and it installed properly, no issues so far. Then I arrived at the Desktop, and immediately checked the Drive and how it showed up...

"Uh oh" ...

Ok, first problem appeared, the Drive shows a total free space amount of only 127GB, although it's a 250GB Drive.

Second problem, it shows as a Removable Device in my task bar by the clock.

"Well well ... let's just install SP2, at least" - I told myself. So I installed SP2, rebooted, then went to Microsoft.com and downloaded and installed all the latest updates not included on the SP2 CD-Rom itself (around 35+ updates). Then I rebooted again. Once back at the Desktop, I checked the Drive again ...

" God dammit !?"

Again, it shows as a Removable Device, and only shows 127GB.

Then I told myself "ok ok, let's install the Motherboard drivers". I did that, and I made sure NOT to install anything about IDE drivers.

But, in vain, after the reboot ... same story. After that, much to my despair, I start-up IE, and go to Seagate.com, and immediately do a research about my specific HDD model, and verify if I needed to install any drivers for it. Surprise ! ... not ... it says clearly black on white that I do NOT need any drivers at all ! "huh ? are you guys sure ?" I thought.

"Then what's wrong ?!"

I don't know really. What's wrong guys ? Do I need SATA drivers even if I do NOT want to go with RAID ? (too late anyway Windows is already installed, I can't install RAID "later on", that I'm sure about). What have I done wrong ?

 

[F1shF4t]

Originally posted by: Zenoth
The situation is quite embarrassing.

Ok, I don't know much about hardware, and especially nothing about the SATA interface.

But today I went to my local store to buy new HDD's, and they are SATA Drives (both of them Seagate 7200.10 250GB, model name is ST3250410AS). I had a 10% rebate on both so I couldn't resist, and, after all, I had to move on to the newer technology, because I think that my current WD Caviar IDE Drives are starting to show signs of degradation.

So anyway ...

My current set-up are two HDD's, IDE Drives, from Western Digital. One is Master, one is Slave. So, with my new SATA Drives I just wanted to replace them both, of course, but the thing is I do not want to go with a RAID set-up, at least not for that particular Windows installation I'll have to make for one of the new SATA Drive to boot from (perhaps I'll do it but for another Windows install much later on).

And, well, I tried it, I tried to install that thing alone.

So I went into my BIOS (A8N-SLi Premium with BIOS 1009), then I disabled anything about IDE I could see, and enable the SATA Ports #1 and #2, then I after that I turned the system off, disconnected the power, and physically removed one of the IDE Drives (Slave), and then I replaced it with one of the new SATA Drive, which I wanted to test as my new "main" Drive with the new Windows installation for it of course.

I made sure to remove the power for the IDE Master Drive, even though it was still physically present in the case itself it wouldn't be turned on at all. So the only Drive that would be detected would be my SATA Drive, and that's what happened, it was indeed properly detected during POST, and it correctly showed 250GB, so I thought "hooray ! it's that simple ? nice !". So I proceeded to install Windows XP 32-Bit, which I did, and it installed properly, no issues so far. Then I arrived at the Desktop, and immediately checked the Drive and how it showed up...

"Uh oh" ...

Ok, first problem appeared, the Drive shows a total free space amount of only 127GB, although it's a 250GB Drive.

Second problem, it shows as a Removable Device in my task bar by the clock.

"Well well ... let's just install SP2, at least" - I told myself. So I installed SP2, rebooted, then went to Microsoft.com and downloaded and installed all the latest updates not included on the SP2 CD-Rom itself (around 35+ updates). Then I rebooted again. Once back at the Desktop, I checked the Drive again ...

" God dammit !?"

Again, it shows as a Removable Device, and only shows 127GB.

Then I told myself "ok ok, let's install the Motherboard drivers". I did that, and I made sure NOT to install anything about IDE drivers.

But, in vain, after the reboot ... same story. After that, much to my despair, I start-up IE, and go to Seagate.com, and immediately do a research about my specific HDD model, and verify if I needed to install any drivers for it. Surprise ! ... not ... it says clearly black on white that I do NOT need any drivers at all ! "huh ? are you guys sure ?" I thought.

"Then what's wrong ?!"

I don't know really. What's wrong guys ? Do I need SATA drivers even if I do NOT want to go with RAID ? (too late anyway Windows is already installed, I can't install RAID "later on", that I'm sure about). What have I done wrong ?

My friend had a similar board (I think can't remember fully) and it had problems with sata2, so setting to sata1 mode might fix the removable device issue.

Secondly if u created the partition in sp1 then it will be 127gig, u will have to repartition it in sp2 to get full 250gig.

EDIT: also make sure the sata ports are configured as IDE (Not Raid or ACHI) in bios.

 

[Zenoth]

My friend had a similar board (I think can't remember fully) and it had problems with sata2, so setting to sata1 mode might fix the removable device issue.

How do I set to Sata 1 ?

Secondly if u created the partition in sp1 then it will be 127gig, u will have to repartition it in sp2 to get full 250gig.

Yes, I partitioned it from even before SP1, SP1 wasn't even installed, it's a fresh Windows XP install from a very old CD-Rom containing the vanilla version and nothing else on it. But How do I repartition it ?

EDIT: also make sure the sata ports are configured as IDE (Not Raid or ACHI) in bios.

Ok I'll make sure to verify about that.

 

[John]

Originally posted by: Zenoth
Ok, first problem appeared, the Drive shows a total free space amount of only 127GB, although it's a 250GB Drive.

1) Install XP SP2
2) Right-click My Computer > Manage > Disk Management > partition the unpartioned space on the boot drive.
3) Download the XP SP2 network installation and use nLite to slipstream it to avoid the issue in the future.

Second problem, it shows as a Removable Device in my task bar by the clock.

That's by design and perfectly normal for your nForce mobo chipset/drivers. SATA spec includes "hot swap" capabilities. You can hide the tray icon if you wish. Otherwise you can elect not to install the nvidia storage drivers and stick with Microsoft's.

 

[Zenoth]

Wow, thanks ! Simple reply, and it fixed all my issues.

Awesome, thanks again