How will I need to configure these hard drives?

Well, I ordered a 36.7GB Raptor last night from newegg for $117 with free shipping. Not a bad price I must say...

Anyways, I've never had a 2nd HDD in my computer so I don't really know what to configure as what.

My setup will be 1 WD Raptor for Windows/programs (SATA drive), and 1 Maxtor 60GB 7200rpm HDD for storage (IDE drive).

The 60GB IDE storage drive will be on it's own IDE cable going to my NF7-S, and the Raptor will be connected to the SATA plug on my motherboard via a SATA cable that came with the NF7-S.

How will I configure primary/secondary and slave/master options? I have no idea what many of them mean much less what to pick. Also, will BIOS pick up the drive connected via SATA if the SATA drivers aren't installed? Where in the process of installing windows will I install the SATA drivers? I'm kinda lost.

Any help appreciated

The Raptor will be single on its serial channel. Configure the 60GB as primary master, but leave it disconnected while you are installing to the Raptor. Optical drives can go on both IDE channels(if you have more than one), otherwise as secondary master.

The BIOS will detect the SATA drive provided the SATA controller is enabled.

For installation, as noted above disconnect the IDE HDD, then start install from CD. Hit F6 to install mass storage drivers. When prompted insert the floppy with the SATA drivers and then proceed with installation normally.

Xaotic said:

Configure the 60GB as primary master, but leave it disconnected while you are installing to the Raptor.

Click to expand...

When you say configure the 60GB as primary master do you mean do that in the BIOS and then unhook the drive.....then after that is unhooked, hook up the SATA drive (Raptor)?

When and what do I set the SATA drive in BIOS? Or is SATA not even in the bios options to set as primary/secondary/master/slave etc. etc.

bump

anyone? My raptor is being delivered today

Leave it disconnected while the OS installing to the Raptor. When the installation is complete, then attach the power and data cables to the PATA IDE HDD. Windows will not be able to attempt to place the boot sector on the IDE drive, if it's not there, and this will save some trouble later.

Got it. Thanks for the help Xaotic

Ok I have a big problem...

I hooked up the Raptor all by itself with the included SATA cable that came with my NF7-S. I booted from WinXP cd and when I hit F6 to install 3rd party drivers it was like F6 didn't work (and I don't have an F-lock on my keyboard). Anyways, once all the drivers were loaded a screen came up saying windows had no driver and asked for a disk in A: drive. I put in the disk and it detected the SATARaid controller so I loaded it.

It then went to the "install windows xp now" screen so I hit enter to do that. Upon doing that it says this:

"Setup did not find any hard disk drives installed in your computer. Make sure any hard disk drives are powered on and properly connected to your computer." (or something related to that).

The SATA controller is enabled in BIOS also...

I thought the drivers were loaded so it was supposed to work?

Help!! lol

Is all I need to hook up a SATA drive is the cable that came with my motherboard and the molex power connector?

You'll need to configure the RAID controller before starting the setup process. During boot, there will be a prompt to enter the RAID controller's BIOS, usually CRTL + a key. The manual should also detail this step. Once you've entered the BIOS, you should be able to select the bootable drive and run some smple diagnostics to make sure that the controller detects the drive. I can't be more specific since I don't run those controllers and have to get a couple of hours of sleep before heading back to work.

Xaotic said:

You'll need to configure the RAID controller before starting the setup process. During boot, there will be a prompt to enter the RAID controller's BIOS, usually CRTL + a key. The manual should also detail this step. Once you've entered the BIOS, you should be able to select the bootable drive and run some smple diagnostics to make sure that the controller detects the drive. I can't be more specific since I don't run those controllers and have to get a couple of hours of sleep before heading back to work.

Click to expand...

And I have to do this even if I'm not going to RAID drives?

Edit: I'm in the RAID BIOS and all I see is

Create RAID set
Delete RAID set
Rebuild mirrored set
Resolve Conflicts
Low Level Format

?

Ok I have absolutely no idea what is keeping the Raptor from being recognized. Here are all my settings:

In BIOS:

IDE Primary Master: None
IDE Primary Slave: None
IDE Secondary Master: Pioneer DVD
IDE Secondary Slave: None

1st boot device: CDROM
2nd boot device: Serial ATA
3rd boot device: Floppy
Boot Other Device: Enabled

Serial ATA Controller: Enabled
- SATA RAID ROM: Enabled

I'm just trying to get my Raptor to work. I boot from WinXP cd and hit F6 to install the SATA drivers. I pick the SATA drivers from the floppy and load them. Everything loads fine.

It's at this point where it says "To set up WinXP now hit enter". When I do this it tells me that there are no hard drives connected.

2 hours of trying to get a HDD recognized is painfully tedious.....

I've tried using a different molex connector, using SATA port 2 on the motherboard instead of SATA port 1, and nothing works.

When I hit F4 to go into the RAID setup utility, where the drives should be I see this:

* 0 PM
1 SM

I guess this means that no drive is detected, right? If it were detected it'd have the drive name out beside PM

Anyone?

I'm sitting here with a dead computer lol

The drive is obviously not being detected. Is the drive spinning? You should be able to hear it.

OMG!! All of a sudden it works!! I don't do ANYTHING and out of frustration I'm restarting the computer for about 5 times in a row......out of nowhere when I press the power button I hear the drive spin up for the very first time!! I hit F6 to install drivers and now WinXP is installing!!!

I would like to state that I have no earthly idea how this happened, and I remember reading on another forum earlier (forgot which one I ran across so many lol) that another guy had my exact same problem and he said that his just started working out of nowhere after 20 some-odd restarts also...

great... good to know you got it working... (save up some money and when you can buy another RAPTOR and make a raid0 out od those beasts )