SATA plus ATA = PROBLEM?

[JBNimble]

I want to use an older ATA as the second drive on my Bad Axe 2. First, I cloned (True Image) the primary SATA to the ATA, for backup of the system.

BUT when I boot on the pair, the ATA insists on being the primary.

Is there some way to make the SATA primary, when both systems contain the same (initially) software?

[zman88]

Have you tried playing with the jumper on the HD ?

[Brian]

There should be a setting in your BIOS (in the boot section) to specify exactly which hard disk to boot from.

[Drufuss]

Well, looks like Brian was a wee bit faster suggesting BIOS options.

I currently use a PATA hdd as primary and an SATA hdd as secondary.
To do this, i had to set my bios to use "IDE + SATA".
Other available options are "IDE" (only PATA disks), "SATA + IDE" (SATA primary, PATA secondary) or "SATA" (only SATA drives).

Greetings

Dru

P.S.: both drives are jumpered as master.

[PGIV]

On most PCs, the BIOS will always try to boot from the PATA drive over the SATA drive. Just force it back to the SATA in your BIOS and you'll be good to go.

I run into this all the time when I test customer's PATA drives (in a mobile rack) in a PC that has a SATA 'C' drive. I've learned that it will always try to boot from the PATA in the tray if I don't go into the BIOS and force it back to boot from the SATA drive.

Also, in systems I build that have a mobile rack for doing Ghost backups, I've learned to make both drives SATA or PATA and not to mix the two which can make running a Ghost backup a little confusing if the drives are the same size.

[JBNimble]

Thanks guys.

Every suggestion looks reasonable. None works for my Intel Bad Axe 2 board.

I tried both master and slave settings on my PATA drive -- no good.
I tried to change the boot order in the BIOS, with master and slave settings; the BIOS refused the change, repeatedly.

I connected the PATA via USB and removed nearly all the Windows stuff, hoping that the computer would find Windows on the SATA drive when the PATA was reinstalled.
The computer simply refused to boot with SATA and PATA in this configuration (NTLDR not found).

For what it's worth (probably nothing), the SATA is a Western 250 and the PATA is a Seagate 400.

I have solved the problem the old-fashioned way. I ordered a new SATA drive.
Directron has WD Green Power 500 GB drives on sale for $69.99.
For a secondary drive, I'm more interested in heat production than in the last few percent of performance.

[PGIV]

If you're connecting your PATA drive to your existing SATA PC, leave the PATA drive set as Master (or Single Drive if that's a different jumper setting than Master), assuming it's the only drive on the IDE cable and that it is at the far end of the cable. When you boot, immediately go into your BIOS and go to 'hard drives'. Make sure the 250 SATA is listed BEFORE (higher in the list) the 400 PATA. Then go to the 'boot order' and make sure the 250 SATA is listed and not the 400 PATA. Save and Exit and when your PC boots, you should be booting from the SATA. I'm not familiar with the BIOS settings of the Bad Axe 2, but that's the way you do it on all ASUS boards I have used.

Anyway, I guess you've solved your problem by making both your HDs SATA.

[JBNimble]

Hello PGIV

That's what I did, and it didn't work. Dunno why.

You can only beat your head against the wall for so long before going around the wall.