SATA drivers for windows 7
- Thread starter MrMatt
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RebateMonger
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- Dec 24, 2005
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The drivers aren't for the hard drive. They are for the hard drive controller.
Windows 7 contains many drivers for disk controllers. But it may not contain drivers for less-common controllers. Without appropriate drivers, Windows won't be able to access the disk controller and won't be able to see the disk to install Windows or to boot after Windows is installed.
The drivers can be found on the controller maker's site or on the motherboard maker's site (if the disk controller is integrated into the motherboard).
For W7, you should be able to use either Vista or W7 drivers for the disk controller. And, finally, you don't need to supply the controller drivers in floppy disk format. You can put them on a USB flash drive or on a CD/DVD.
Windows 7 contains many drivers for disk controllers. But it may not contain drivers for less-common controllers. Without appropriate drivers, Windows won't be able to access the disk controller and won't be able to see the disk to install Windows or to boot after Windows is installed.
The drivers can be found on the controller maker's site or on the motherboard maker's site (if the disk controller is integrated into the motherboard).
For W7, you should be able to use either Vista or W7 drivers for the disk controller. And, finally, you don't need to supply the controller drivers in floppy disk format. You can put them on a USB flash drive or on a CD/DVD.
I haven't had any problems installing Windows 7 on various motherboards at this point.
Are you having problems installing or are you merely being cautious? If the latter then I think you can rest easy, most of these problems got sorted out post XP SP2 IIRC.
The drive doesn't matter, since to the best of my knowledge all SATA drives conform to the spec and so with regards to installing Windows, it will be the same. It is the controller on the motherboard that matters, and in this case I think you are fine.
What is the chipset on the A8V?
RebateMonger
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Mem
Lifer
- Apr 23, 2000
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You'll probably find Win7 default drivers for SATA will work fine,I know with my socket 939 board Vista x64 had no issues with SATA controller so Win7 should be the same ie no issues.
As to USB, default drivers should work fine,I have a lot of USB hardware that has no drivers,however Vista default ones work ok.
Remember Vista/Win7 has a lot better driver support for SATA etc.. then XP especially during installation.
As to USB, default drivers should work fine,I have a lot of USB hardware that has no drivers,however Vista default ones work ok.
Remember Vista/Win7 has a lot better driver support for SATA etc.. then XP especially during installation.
Nothinman
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- Sep 14, 2001
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I don't see it as that wacky. Those Dells most likely came with Windows preinstalled and if you use their restore disc you don't have to worry about drivers. On top of that USB floppies work just fine as long as the BIOS has legacy support for them. And really, Windows XP and earlier are the only OSes with such inflexible installers.
techs
Lifer
- Sep 26, 2000
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Many of those computers came with the hard drive restore partition. If it became corrupt or your hard drive failed, you only had your Windows XP install disk to get Windows back on the computer.
SO you either had to buy an external floppy drive, or hang one inside the computer temporarily, because if you didn't order the floppy when you bought the computer you have no way to mount it internally without the custom Dell adapter.
On many models you can go into the bios and disable sata mode and then install windows in compatible mode, but then you can't enable sata mode after that.
Nothinman
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So? Their target market, i.e. regular users, wouldn't be able to make it through an XP install even if they had a floppy drive. Hell most of them can't make it through an Ubuntu install these days and it already had drivers for just about everything and only asks you like 3 questions. If they screw it up to the point that the restore partition won't work they'll either be calling Dell or a friend that can do it for them.
And problems going from IDE->AHCI mode are purely a Windows thing, I can do it just fine with Linux. Not that it matters, most people don't care as long as the drive works.
RebateMonger
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Lots of Dells came with disk controllers that could do IDE emulation, so you could use that mode to install XP without SATA drivers. Further, the Dell Restore Partition on Dells would already be set up to recognize the Dell disk controller.
Note that if you want to use a USB floppy drive, there's also the requirement that XP support that particular drive model. XP only contains drivers for a few USB floppy drives. Microsoft has a list, or, even better, read reviews of the USB drive (on Newegg, for instance) to verify that it'll respond to the "F6" key in an XP install.
RebateMonger
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Even worse, unless you purchased a floppy drive with your new Dell, you didn't get the required floppy drive mounting hardware. Dell floppy drives as add-ins were a bit pricey compared to buying a standard floppy drive at Frys. Dell charges anywhere from $20 to $40 for the floppy option, depending on which model of Dell you are buying.
Are there any settings you can alter in BIOS? Have you googled to see if others have found a solution to the problem?
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