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    Using Sata Drives without RAID in Xp

    Discussion in 'Windows OS and Software' started by Ricky_S, Sep 22, 2008.

  1. Ricky_S

    Ricky_S Notebook Evangelist

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    hey guys,

    I have Gigabyte P35-DS3R Motherborad and it supports Sata connection. I have four Harddrives, 2 internal and 2 external. they all have Sata connection, even the extrnal HDDs support Sata connection.

    I bought a new harddrive which I'm going to use as a bootup drive and I'm going to install a fresh copy of XP on it.

    I want to use all HDDs via Sata connection because of the fast speed. BUT I donot want to use RAID settings or anything. So How can I configure the BIOS so that I am using the HDDs.

    I took the following screenshots from the manual, these are the settings that I need to configure so that I can use the HDDs with the transfer rate of 3.0GB/s but without any RAID configuration.

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    I would really appreciate any help
    thanks
     
    Ricky_S, Sep 22, 2008
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  2. Andy

    Andy Notebook Prophet

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    Enable the 1st option in the image. I am not sure as to what the 2nd option would do, if enabled.

    Before doing the above, download the SATA drivers from Gigabyte's site for your motherboard, and copy them onto a floppy driver, and F6 install during XP setup.
    If you don't have a FDD, slipstream those SATA drivers into the XP Setup using nLite.

    I guess there will be an advanced option to enable RAID, and if you don't enable RAID, the HDDs will function in AHCI/SATA mode.
    As said you'll have to install 3rd party SATA drivers from Gigabyte, as XP does not natively support SATA/AHCI.

    Bandwidth really doesn't make a difference in performance, and running the drive in UDMA 5/6 mode won't matter unless you have a Raptor or similar.

    EDIT:     Enable Native SATA mode in the 2nd option. Legacy IDE mode is provided by your mobo to install OSs that do not support SATA natively, hence it is more of a compatibility mode. Toggle it to Native IDE/SATA, as you can install the drivers manually during install. I am pretty much sure thats what it means, as notebook BIOSs can automatically configure Native or Legacy mode depending upon the drivers available. :)

    Switching between Native and Legacy IDE Mode won't hurt the OS even if changed after the install, but when changing between IDE and SATA will give you BSODs and you'll have to tamper with the registry and drivers.
     
    Andy, Sep 22, 2008
    #2