XP & SATA Optical Drives

[istari101]

I'm planning on building again and I have a SP2 Integrated XP Pro. Now, I have not owned a SATA optical drive before, but I was planning on getting yet another Plextor DVD Burner this time around.

My question is this: I know XP can be pretty temperamental about even recognizing SATA harddrives, so will I even be able to boot off of and do a clean install from my disc via a SATA optical drive? If not I'll just stick with standard EIDE, but I just wondered if any of you knew whether or not those drives would work.

 

[BigPete]

I have an nForce4 board and it has 4 Native SATA ports, so I was able to boot from the CD with no problem. I believe the nForce3 also has native SATA. If you are going with another chipset I would make sure it supports SATA natively. If you need more info, let me know.

 

[istari101]

So you're saying you were able to successfully boot and do a clean install from a SATA optical drive?

 

[gggplaya]

i installed my windows xp sp2 clean install no problem after i built a new computer. The only thing extra you have to do is hold down f6 when it asks for raid drivers. You have to make those drivers onto a floppy disc before you install. So make that with your old windows setup and then take out your old hard drives and install your new ones.

 

[istari101]

I understand how to insure that Windows recognizes a SATA hard drive. The crux of my issue is that I wanted to know if anyone has had success booting off and doing a clean install from a SATA optical drive. My worry is about just being able to do a clean install from a SATA optical drive, which in this case will be a DVD Burner. Sorry if my question wasn't clear enough and thanks for the info everyone.

 

[BigPete]

Your question was 100% clear. Maybe my answer wasnt? Yes, as long as your motherboard supports SATA natively you will be able to install windows from the cd without having to use the f6 method for driver installation. I have an MSI Neo4 Platinum, WD 75GB Raptor, Seagate 250GB SATA, and Plextor DVD-RW (716SA) and I did not need to use f6 for anything. Booted off the CD, installed off the CD to the 74GB raptor without any problems. My IDE channels arent even enabled in the BIOS, all my storage is SATA and I dont have a floppy.

 

[istari101]

Awesome. Thanks for all the information and clarification.

 

[BigPete]

Hey, no problem man! Goodluck, let us know if you have any other questions.