is this xp install scenario possible?

two new firsts for me are: installing xp home on sata drive. the sata drive is what's new. also new for me is, i'll have a two hard-drive system. BTW, it's a 74gig raptor(my SATA boot drive) and a 80gig (my PATA drive) for misc. storage. the mobo is abit's ai7 865 chipset.
my question is this-can i put the OS on the raptor, along w/ the sata drivers, while keeping the other drive(currently where operating system is installed) connected to the mobo?
been researchig the whole xp/F6/sata driver install thing and i just know i'm going to join the many who run into problems.
by keeping my current boot drive connected, i'd still have a working system w/ internet access(hopefully) to do more research/thread posting.
and, of course, if the install is successful i will be wiping the OS from original drive to become extra storage.
thanks for any help, slicey

Installing the OS on your Raptor (or any SATA drive, for that matter) is really no big deal.
Unplug your current drive leaving just the Raptor active.
Boot to the install disk and when prompted...almost immediately...hit F6.
Using your supplied floppy (which you must have), install the appropriate drivers.
After that, it's just a normal install.
Create partition(s), format and carry on.

clocker2 said:

Installing the OS on your Raptor (or any SATA drive, for that matter) is really no big deal.
Unplug your current drive leaving just the Raptor active.
Boot to the install disk and when prompted...almost immediately...hit F6.
Using your supplied floppy (which you must have), install the appropriate drivers.
After that, it's just a normal install.
Create partition(s), format and carry on.

Click to expand...

OK, thanks for the reply and please don't take offense, but you haven't helped me yet. (I hope!) your answer is just like all the other "scripted" responses to the, all too familiar statement....'problems installing windows xp on my sata harddrive." until last night, i've never even owned or used a floppy drive! i really hope you'll post back because i know you can help me. the 1st thing is the BIOS. when i began messing w/ the many different drive configs, it became confusing and disturbing. let's begin here, shall we? so disconnect current drive, ok simple. tell me in the best detail you can for my ai7's BIOS, what setting(s) i need to make. also, how should the booting order be set? i know....... i'm dumb, various computer problems got me this way. will ya help me some more?
slicey

the best way to do it and avoid any confusion by WIndows is to disconnect the IDE cable from your old drive and make sure that your Raptor is connected and detected by the bios.

Now, because you're using a single drive, you may as well set the SATA channels to run in IDE mode, so you don't have to do any SATA driver installation during XP Setup.

So now you just set up Windows XP like normal, onto the Raptor.

Before you plug the ATA drive back up, make sure your boot settings are done properly.

I have the same sort of setup, (SATA is OS, ATA is storage and did contain the OS before) and went through the same sort of thing. It's not that hard if the steps are followed. My board also uses the 865PE/ICH5-R chipset.

This info has me more perplexed. somewhere, i found a member reply to a post who said he had installed windows on a sata drive w/o the sata drivers nor even an installed floppy drive. but i thought he was on LSD. if this is so, why do so many people post having a problem installing the OS on a non raid sata config? 70% of the replies are the usual, "you gotta install the sata drivers from the floppy that came w/ your mobo. is setting the sata channels to run in ide mode capping my throughput at my mobo's highest mode of ultra ATA100? also, it should be possible to copy the contents of my documents folder(has all my newest driver file downloads) over to the raptor, right? then, reformat? repartition? or whatever. it's all new to me.
thanks, slicey

some controllers are not "native" to the southbridge and thus, need a driver installed.

Native means that the SATA controller is actually part of the southbridge chipset. Just like IDE controller is. A native controller does not need drivers installed, unless running in RAID mode.

You may need to take ownership of the documents folder (maybe even the whole user account) from the previous OS installation. See here for how to do so.


http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;308421&sd=tech

Know Nuttin said:

the best way to do it and avoid any confusion by WIndows is to disconnect the IDE cable from your old drive and make sure that your Raptor is connected and detected by the bios.

Now, because you're using a single drive, you may as well set the SATA channels to run in IDE mode, so you don't have to do any SATA driver installation during XP Setup.

So now you just set up Windows XP like normal, onto the Raptor.

Before you plug the ATA drive back up, make sure your boot settings are done properly.

I have the same sort of setup, (SATA is OS, ATA is storage and did contain the OS before) and went through the same sort of thing. It's not that hard if the steps are followed. My board also uses the 865PE/ICH5-R chipset.

Click to expand...

Know Nuttin, sisoft sandra reports my chipset as being: i865-ICH5
as you can see, i don't have the "-R" at the end. if it helps, i physically looked at the southbridge on my abit ai7 and printed was: 82801ER, this is the SATA controller, isn't it?

82801ER is the chipset name. ICH-5, same thing.

the -R just means that RAID is an option. SATA is still native to the ICH5 chipset.

In your bios, under "integrated Peripherhals", you should see an option for "onchip IDE device". In there, you should see "Onchip Serial ATA Mode". set it to IDE.