• Welcome to Overclockers Forums! Join us to reply in threads, receive reduced ads, and to customize your site experience!

About to buy either SATA or IDE Baracuda - Quick Install Question

Overclockers is supported by our readers. When you click a link to make a purchase, we may earn a commission. Learn More.

pigwalkarg

Registered
Joined
Mar 31, 2005
Hey guys, I'm ordering my drive for the new build today and I'm picking up a Baracuda 7200.8 200GB, either in SATA or IDE. But a buddy of mine tells me that I MUST have a floppy drive in order to install the SATA drivers and be able to use the drive. Is this correct? Can I just install the drive clean and install XP straight from the CD rom? For some reason my PSU resets everytime I plug ANYTHING into the floppy connector and I don't want want to have to run around hassling with a 2nd PSU just to install. That and I hear SATA has some shielding problems. Which way should I go?

-wil
 
Welcome to the forums!

It depends on the version of XP you will be installing. Generally, XP disks with SP2 will have the drivers for most SATA controllers integrated into the install process. Earlier disks can be modified and recreated with the drivers slipstreamed into the install process. Here are some links for creating the disks:

Slipstreaming:
http://www.maximumpc.com/how_to/reprint_2005-01-05.html

GUI based disk creation(I haven't used this one)
http://nuhi.msfn.org/nlite.html

If you don't want to try either, then you can attempt to install without using the driver, but it will likely fail.

Other good options include using another power supply for the install or using a 4 pin molex to FDD adapter.

Personally, I'd be very worried about using a PS with a bad power port without diagnosing the issue fully. It may indicate other problems are present with the PS or perhaps even the motherboard.
 
well your buddy is half right, you need to install the sata controller drives via a floppy so that Windows is able to read the Sata drive. I don't know what you mean by shielding problems, maybe that earlier on in sata's life if you oced too high, the computer would not be able to see the drive, but that doens't happen anymore.
 
I just built a computer for work that used a Maxtor SATA and Windows XP PRO (I don't even believe it was SP1).

I was expecting to have to insert the floppy sometime but didn't need to. It found the drivers fine. In fact, it's the computer I'm using to type this now.

Don't know if it makes a difference on make/model of the drive.
 
you know that's funny, with my hitachi's and my Lanparty Ultra B, I had non-SP1, sp1, and sp2 disks, and each time I need the drivers.
 
Even if you do need SATA drivers with a slipstreamed SP2 disc when installing, you can still add them to your disc so they're loaded automatically (and you don't have to go through the F6 crap)

check out http://unattended.msfn.org/

Intermediate Users -> Device Drivers -> RAID/SATA drivers
 
Awesome guys! I'm guess I'm going SATA then, thanks for all the help!

-wil
 
iqwertyi said:
I just built a computer for work that used a Maxtor SATA and Windows XP PRO (I don't even believe it was SP1).

I was expecting to have to insert the floppy sometime but didn't need to. It found the drivers fine. In fact, it's the computer I'm using to type this now.

Don't know if it makes a difference on make/model of the drive.

dicecca112 said:
you know that's funny, with my hitachi's and my Lanparty Ultra B, I had non-SP1, sp1, and sp2 disks, and each time I need the drivers.

actually it has nothing to do with hdd drive type or model, its up to the sata controller in the end, sp2 did load my old ich5r and sil3112 drivers, but not any version did contain my new ich6r and sil3114 drivers.
 
Back