Installing XP on a SATA drive?

Anvar · Post by **Anvar** » Thu Jan 18, 2007 11:21 pm

Ok, I've just ordered my new rig, and now I'm having trouble figuring out if I forgot to order a floppy drive.

I have a WinXP Pro disk, but it doesn't include SP2. Can I install it on my new WD3200KS without a floppy drive, or do I need to bootstrap the drivers onto a new cd along with SP2?

Thanks in advance,
Anvar.

dnoiz · Post by **dnoiz** » Fri Jan 19, 2007 1:18 am

If you leave the diskcontroller on your motherboard to IDE, then things should be fine. I do think that SP2 will be required for a HD of that size, else Windows may not recongnize the full 320Gb (not sure about this).

If I was you, I would slipstream at least SP2 and create a new bootable CD.

I usually slipstream RyanVM's post-SP2 pack (http://www.ryanvm.net/msfn/) and several driverpacks (http://driverpacks.net/) but that's just my personal "taste" and I need RAID drivers without using the floppy & F6 solution.

Good luck.

nick705 · Post by **nick705** » Thu Jan 25, 2007 8:03 am

dnoiz wrote:I do think that SP2 will be required for a HD of that size, else Windows may not recongnize the full 320Gb (not sure about this)

SP1 or higher is needed for 48-bit LBA, but slipstreaming SP2 is probably a good idea anyway, and you might as well incorporate the necessary SATA drivers while you're at it (means you can enable AHCI or RAID right from the start if you want to).

NLite makes it all very easy - you can also incorporate RyanVM's hotfix rollups, and apply many other customisations at your pleasure.

andyb · Post by **andyb** » Thu Jan 25, 2007 10:10 am

You dont need the SATA drivers if you have a new motherboard (VIA chipset might be a problem) as they just work so long as its SP1 you wont have any trouble.

Andy

nick705 · Post by **nick705** » Thu Jan 25, 2007 4:27 pm

andyb wrote:You dont need the SATA drivers if you have a new motherboard (VIA chipset might be a problem) as they just work so long as its SP1 you wont have any trouble.

Andy

Only if the SATA port is set to IDE mode. If you want to install XP to a RAID array or a disk with AHCI enabled you'll need the drivers, either floppy+F6 or slipstreamed into the install CD.

Anvar · Post by **Anvar** » Fri Jan 26, 2007 12:41 am

Heh, I found out my WinXP does include SP2, so I should have no problems then?

Nick, when you say SATA is set to IDE mode, do you mean startup sequence is set to IDE?

nick705 · Post by **nick705** » Fri Jan 26, 2007 4:58 pm

Anvar wrote:Heh, I found out my WinXP does include SP2, so I should have no problems then?

Nick, when you say SATA is set to IDE mode, do you mean startup sequence is set to IDE?

Nope, at least not if you're referring to "IDE" being set as the first device in the boot order.

Depending on your mobo, somewhere in your BIOS (probably under "IDE configuration" or something similar), you might find various options as to how the southbridge actually configures SATA drives - as plain IDE, as RAID, or with AHCI enabled. RAID is self-explanatory, AHCI gives you advanced SATA2 features such as native command queuing, hotswapping and the full 300MB/sec burst transfer speeds. XP's own inbuilt drivers will only find the drive if it's configured as IDE - there's a way of enabling AHCI in an existing XP installation at a later stage, but it's a bit fiddly. You'd be better off using the third-party SATA drivers during the setup procedure if you want to install Windows on an AHCI-configured drive.

Unless you want to install Windows to a RAID array, plain IDE should probably be good enough, and is usually the default configuration - there might theoretically be some performance penalty compared to AHCI in some circumstances, but I doubt if it's anything you'd ever notice in practice, at least with currently available drives.

If your mobo has a less advanced southbridge and doesn't give you these options you should be good to go without any further ado anyway...

Anvar · Post by **Anvar** » Fri Jan 26, 2007 7:10 pm

I AM good to go.

Typing this from my brand-spanking new rig, and boy is it nice. Nary a sound, except for the fans which I haven't changed yet. I can't hardly hear my hdd, in my old one it sounded like a man with a jackhammer right next to my ear. And the XP install went off without a hitch. Now, if I could just get those damn Nvidia SATA drivers to stop telling me I can safely remove my hdd and DVD-drive, I'd be a happy man.