SATA drives and fresh install

Dutch Guy · 4 Apr 2006 at 12:17

I am thinking about getting two 250Gb Hitachi SATA harddisks to replace the IDE ones I have but I have no floppy drive

Do I need to install the SATA drivers with a floppy or is a XP CD with SP2 slipstreamed also good enough to recognise the harddisks?

Jeff Crawly · 4 Apr 2006 at 12:25

Depends what SATA controller your going to use as I'm pretty sure nvidia/nforce emulates IDE thus requiring no SATA drivers during XP setup/install.

But even if your controller does need drivers then this can very easily be done still without a horrible floppy drive!! Just goto http://www.nliteos.com/ download nLite and slipstream the relevant drivers with that. Job done :-)

Dutch Guy · 4 Apr 2006 at 12:53

Jeff Crawly said:
Depends what SATA controller your going to use as I'm pretty sure nvidia/nforce emulates IDE thus requiring no SATA drivers during XP setup/install.

But even if your controller does need drivers then this can very easily be done still without a horrible floppy drive!! Just goto http://www.nliteos.com/ download nLite and slipstream the relevant drivers with that. Job done

I have a nForce4 mobo so I guess that will work

I will however take a look at the link you posted.

Another question, can I perhaps use Acronis True Image to clone the Windows install from a IDE drive to a SATA as I just reinstalled XP and don't fancy doing it again so soon?

JudgeC · 4 Apr 2006 at 13:35

I have used Norton Ghost to copy a disk from PATA to SATA with no problems. Never used Acronis True Image, but I would imagine it would support it.

lemonkettaz · 4 Apr 2006 at 13:38

I have windows installed on my IDE... but i too have just got a SATA drive...

with this image thing doe sit copy everything over and i restart.. or do i have to alter some settings in the bios first?

just i dont want to have to pay for an oem xp again... ive used the code twice as i had to get a new mobo.. thus a new xp install....

JudgeC · 4 Apr 2006 at 13:45

lemonkettaz said:
I have windows installed on my IDE... but i too have just got a SATA drive...

with this image thing doe sit copy everything over and i restart.. or do i have to alter some settings in the bios first?

just i dont want to have to pay for an oem xp again... ive used the code twice as i had to get a new mobo.. thus a new xp install....

Yep, it copies the entire Hard Disk (or Partition) and when it is finished, just unplug your old drive and boot with your new one. You will need to make sure that your SATA adapter is enabled in the BIOS, but other than that it shouldn't require any further action.

Dutch Guy · 4 Apr 2006 at 13:49

JudgeC said:
Yep, it copies the entire Hard Disk (or Partition) and when it is finished, just unplug your old drive and boot with your new one. You will need to make sure that your SATA adapter is enabled in the BIOS, but other than that it shouldn't require any further action.

That is basically it, I tried Norton Ghost in the past but failed horribly, therefore I think I will try Acronis True Image (not free though

)

But what do I use to delete the old harddisk or can I connect it after a succesful boot of the new drive and format it in Windows?

JudgeC · 4 Apr 2006 at 14:04

Dutch Guy said:
That is basically it, I tried Norton Ghost in the past but failed horribly, therefore I think I will try Acronis True Image (not free though )

But what do I use to delete the old harddisk or can I connect it after a succesful boot of the new drive and format it in Windows?

You should be able to plug it in as a second drive and reformat it from windows. As long as you have your new hard disk set as the first device in the boot priority, the fact that you have your old OS disk with a boot.ini as the secondary disk, shouldn't make any difference.

Dutch Guy · 4 Apr 2006 at 14:05

JudgeC said:
You should be able to plug it in as a second drive and reformat it from windows. As long as you have your new hard disk set as the first device in the boot priority, the fact that you have your old OS disk with a boot.ini as the secondary disk, shouldn't make any difference.

Ah, makes sense.

smids · 4 Apr 2006 at 14:36

Dutch Guy said:
That is basically it, I tried Norton Ghost in the past but failed horribly, therefore I think I will try Acronis True Image (not free though )

But what do I use to delete the old harddisk or can I connect it after a succesful boot of the new drive and format it in Windows?

Same for me - I tried and it failed. I really dislike Norton, except for Partition Manager. I just got Acronis but haven't had a chance to test it out yet but I hear there is indeed a bug with Norton. I read there is a workaround but what the hell use is that? Make the program work properly for SATA and RAIDs in the first place.

JudgeC · 4 Apr 2006 at 14:46

smids said:
Same for me - I tried and it failed. I really dislike Norton, except for Partition Manager. I just got Acronis but haven't had a chance to test it out yet but I hear there is indeed a bug with Norton. I read there is a workaround but what the hell use is that? Make the program work properly for SATA and RAIDs in the first place.

I was using Ghost 9 and it worked fine, but it wasn't a RAID array.
I too have stopped using Norton, because I upgraded from Ghost 9.0 to Systemworks 2006. Damn thing took over my PC, using loads of memory and getting in the way. To cap it all, Ghost 10 (Which was the only reason I got it) seems to be more fiddly than 9.0 and I didn't like it much at all.

The final death nail for Norton on my system was when Red Orchestra refused to work with it. One of them had to go and it was an easy choice.

smids · 4 Apr 2006 at 15:35

'There's only room for one of us on this hard drive, Add/Remove programs at dawn'

- I'll get my coat

JudgeC · 4 Apr 2006 at 15:50

smids said:
'There's only room for one of us on this hard drive, Add/Remove programs at dawn' - I'll get my coat

Hmm, that would make a good custom map for RO. The Soviet & Wehrmacht Armies forget their differences for a while and hunt down Dr Peter Norton like a virus.