installing hard disk right?

[HydroMaf]

Hi, i know there are loads of guides out there explaining how to install windows on a SATA HDD via floppy slip stream or what ever. and im not too bothered about that. what i am concerned is my lack of understanding what RAID is. ive read it up on wikipedia searched for it, no doubt read what it is but ive failed to understand what the hell it is.

My pc. amd64opteron, 2gig ram, x1950 pro AGP A8V deleux mobo.
My plan. Install new HDD, when it comes tomorrow my WD150GB 10krpm i plan on diconnecting all my HDD currently in and just using this 1. starting from fresh.

My first problem is where to plug it in / right plugs.
I purchased the Akasa Serial ATA PSU Converter and the Akasa SATA-2 45cm Silver Data Cable as well.
Am i correct in thinking that the Akasa SATA-2 45cm Silver Data Cable goes from the back of the HDD into the mobo where it says sata_raid1.
Question, what would happen if i put it in sata_raid2?
i assume that the Akasa Serial ATA PSU Converter, connects one end from the 4 pin (i think) that plugs into my CD drive etc for power and the other end into the back of my new HDD.
is that it?
do i then switch on the pc with windows disc in make sure it boots from CD, when it asks for the SATA thing i install it from floppy and then i assume instructions will be straight forward windows install from there?

Anything in the bios that needs to be set or worth checking out? i have my bios on default.
another question. on my mobo i saw what would appear to be a ribbon slot of sorts named pri_raid near my sata_raid. will anything need to go in there? i assume not unless.... i dont know?
thanks for any time anyone can lend me, it will save me heart ache tomorrow.

 

[Teaf]

From reading what you are getting, you will not need RAID as you are only using a single drive. RAID is for 2+ drives and makes them run together for better performance and/or data integrity. If you are just installing the single drive then you will just have to do the following:

1. Plug the Akasa SATA convertor onto the end of a spare molex connector and the other black end into the SATA hard drive.
2. Plug the "Akasa SATA-2 45cm Silver Data Cable" into the hard drive them into the SATA1 port on the motherboard.
3. Boot up and you should be good to go.

Anything in the bios that needs to be set or worth checking out? i have my bios on default.

No you shouldn't need to change anything in the BIOS.

on my mobo i saw what would appear to be a ribbon slot of sorts named pri_raid near my sata_raid. will anything need to go in there? i assume not unless.... i dont know?

It's for RAID and using the PATA and SATA hard drives for a RAID 0+1 configuration, so you will not need to use it.

 

[HydroMaf]

thanks for going through my post and also telling me the correct name "molex connector"

 

[HydroMaf]

also is the "sata_raid1" basically "sata1" just so i know 100%.

 

[Teaf]

Use the SATA ports below the IDE channel (the red ports), the other black ports are the ones controlled by the Promise controller and are the RAID capable ports. It shouldn't matter which red port you plug the drive in to.

 

[V|per]

^^ Yes

Although you more than likely wont need to touch the bios, there is a posibillity that you will need to enable sata, it should be fairly self explanitary, but we'll elaborate more if we come to that bridge

 

[HydroMaf]

awesome thanks

 

[HydroMaf]

Hi, i downloaded this Promise SATA378 Driver V1.00.0.26 for Windows 98SE/NT4.0/ME/2000/XP/2003.
Restarted my computer, pressed f6 for drivers. installed the driver just mentioned.
i accepted the licence agreement and began installing windows.
during the installation a warning message appears saying that if i install this file (no name given) then it could cause system problems immediantly or in the future. first time i continued, second time i said no to it.
both times windows installed anway.
windows install finished. pc reboots, i can see the bios loading the harddrive, windows screen starts appearing. but as soon as i hit the prompt where i typein username / pass to log in. it restarts on it self. really annoying. installed it several times, still getting this message.
1 thing i noticed when going into my bios was on the main page it did not detect my HDD in the primary, secondary front page of the bios., but when i went to set boot priority, i could see the harddrive there.
what the hell am i doing wrong?
doing that reallylengthy format again, going to tryagain, but i think its going to be in vein. any ideas anyone?