Installing SATA drives--a brief guide

Cogar · 02-17-2005, 04:20 PM

There seems to be some confusion regarding the process of adding a SATA drive to an existing system already using one or more IDE drives, based on several posts in the Drives & Controllers forum. Therefore, I wrote the following brief guide describing the successful installation of a SATA drive on a computer already running on an IDE drive. This is not a guide for setting up RAID, nor is it a guide for moving an operating system from an existing drive to a SATA drive. (Edit: I added a brief guide for moving the OS from an existing IDE drive to an SATA drive. See post 2.) Rather, it is for people who are interested adding serial ATA drives to their existing system for any of a variety of reasons. For example, if a computer has no available IDE slots, an additional hard drive might be added by using a SATA port. The example for this guide is based on an ASUS A7V600 motherboard using Windows XP service pack 2. The screens and instructions below may vary slightly from yours, due to differences in manufacturers, driver releases, etc.

Step 1. Download the SATA RAID drivers from the site of the company that made your SATA control card. For most of us, this would be the manufacturer of the motherboard. In my case, the file was entitled "VIARAID220d.zip."

Note: although we are not setting up a RAID configuration, we need the "RAID" drivers, since they contain the SATA drivers. To the best of my knowledge, Windows does not contain any native SATA drivers. Edit: PCBruiser stated that Intel's SATA controllers are recognized for individual/single drive use. They would be an exception to this rule (for now).

Step 2. Unzip the files.

Step 3. Turn off your computer and unplug it. Physically install the SATA drive.

Step 4. Restart your computer. It should start normally. The only difference is that you are now running a drive Windows cannot find yet. To the best of my knowledge, you do not need to change any BIOS settings--at least I did not. (It would be different if this were a RAID installation.)

Step 5. Set a system restore point. This is a precaution in case something goes wrong.

Step 6. Click on the "setup.exe" file in the RAID driver set you unzipped. It will implement an installation procedure and then ask to restart the computer. Do so.

Step 7. After the computer restarts and you are back at the Windows desktop, you may have an icon in your system tray indicating that a RAID configuration tool is installed. Ignore it for now. We will deal with it (if desired) in step 11.

Step 8. You can confirm the presence of the new SATA drivers by going into the device manager using the path Start --> Control Panel --> Performance and Maintenance --> System --> Hardware (tab) --> Device manager (button). If the drivers are present, you will notice a SCSI and RAID controllers device has been added. Clicking on the + sign next to the SCSI device icon reveals that (in this case) the VIA Serial ATA RAID Controller has been installed. This will provide the SATA drivers you need. Exit the device manager.

Step 9. Click "Start" and then right click on the "My Computer." Select Manage from the menu that appears. This will pop up the Computer Management window. Click on Disk Management. You will notice your existing drives and a new item (see the first image). The description should represent the drive you just installed. In my case the description was "Disk 2 Basic 74.53 GB Online" and the graphic next to it had a black bar across the top and a white area labeled "74.53GB unallocated".

Step 10. Click on the white area, and it will get gray hash marks on it, showing that it has been selected. Right click your mouse and select "New Partition..." and the New Partition wizard will pop up. The wizard is self-explanatory. While going through the wizard, some of the "options" may not actually be optional. For example, I was only given the opportunity to format the drive using NTFS format. The second image below shows the default settings. When you have chosen the settings you want, click "Finish." The actual formatting is incredibly fast on a SATA drive. 80 GB took perhaps 8 seconds. You are now done.

---

Step 11. (Optional.) If you don't like the RAID configuration tool in your system tray, you can use Windows explorer to locate and delete its shortcut from your startup menu. It will typically be in this folder:
C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\Startup

Note: This will not remove the program, which will still be available via the Start menu. It will just keep it from appearing in your system tray for no reason each time you boot your computer.

Cogar · 02-24-2005, 10:43 AM

Moving an operating system from an existing IDE drive to a SATA drive.

Taking the exercise a step further, I used Seagate's DiscWizard for Windows (also called DiscWizard 2003) to move the OS and all the files to the new SATA drive. Using the DiscWizard for Windows, the operation is almost self-explanatory. Still, I am posting this guide in case someone wants to read how it is done to decide whether they wish to try the operation themselves. Note: I am guessing the other hard drive manufacturers have similar software, although I can only describe what I have done.

Step 1. Download DiscWizard for Windows from the Seagate site. The download page is currently located here:
http://www.seagate.com/support/disc/...s/discwiz.html

Step 2. Complete steps 1-7 in the original installing a SATA drive guide. Although I completed all of the steps in the guide, I believe you will only have to get to the point where the drivers are installed (step 7) and Windows recognizes the drive to proceed, if you so choose.

Step 3. If you are overclocking, I suggest you remove the overclock for this operation. I noticed the CPU temperatures went unusually high during the copy process and I am guessing that your CPU will be run at 100% the entire time.

Step 4. Shut down all windows programs, including antivirus and other programs that run in the background. Since this "exposes" your computer, I also recommend physically disconnecting your computer from the connection it uses to access the Internet. If you are on a local network, you should be disconnected from it as well.

Step 5. Double click the DiscWizard .exe file. It will install the program on your computer. Run the program.

Step 6. You will be presented with several easy-to-choose options. Go through the screens making the appropriate choices. The key screen asks you how you wish to install the drive. You have three choices:
a. Use the new drive as additional storage. (You already have this if you followed the previous guide.)
b. Use the new drive as the boot drive, keeping the old drive in the system. This is the option we will use. The existing IDE drive will make a good backup drive.
c. Use the new drive as the boot drive, removing the old drive from the system.

Step 7. The program will copy the OS and your entire directory structure to the new drive. Depending on the speed of your system and the amount of data you are transferring, this will take from 15 minutes to possibly over an hour.

Step 8. DiskWizard will ask if you want to print out a guide. If you wish to, do so.

Step 9. DiskWizard will then tell you it wants to shut down your computer. It may say it will restart it, but in my case, the computer shut down.

Step 10. Start your computer and escape into BIOS. You will need to do two things:
a. Enable your SATA drive as a boot drive. In the BIOS of my wife's A7V600, the path was: Advanced --> I/O Device Configuration --> Onboard ATA Boot ROM [Enabled]
b. Put your SATA drive in the boot sequence. I had floppy first, DVD drive second, and IDE drive third. I placed the SATA drive (called [SCSI / Onboard ATA Boot Device]) in the third spot, which moved the IDE drive to fourth.

Save your BIOS settings and restart your computer.

Step 11. Since DiskWizard abruptly shuts down the computer without shutting down Windows, when restarted, Windows will complain and check your old IDE boot drive for errors. This process will take perhaps a half hour, depending on the size of the drive.

Step 12. When Windows is satisfied the drive is OK, it will continue to boot into Windows using the new SATA boot drive. Start your antivirus and other programs (if they did not start automatically) and reconnect your Internet and related connections. You should also notice that the drive letters for the IDE and SATA drives have swapped. The process is now complete.

Slidje · 03-15-2005, 09:14 AM

ive been trying this for a while now and it doesnt work for me. after the system posts and tries to boot off the harddrive, it gives the error message 'error loading operating system'.

asus a8n sli delux
939 3000+ winchester
geil value dual channel 1gb ddr
gainward gf6600
sata maxtor drive
ide maxtor drive
lg dvd dl writer

Cogar · 03-15-2005, 11:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Slidje

ive been trying this for a while now and it doesnt work for me. after the system posts and tries to boot off the harddrive, it gives the error message 'error loading operating system'.

asus a8n sli delux
939 3000+ winchester
geil value dual channel 1gb ddr
gainward gf6600
sata maxtor drive
ide maxtor drive
lg dvd dl writer

Were you using your IDE drive initially and was everything working OK?

Slidje · 03-16-2005, 05:52 AM

im not sure what you mean by that.
i had the ide as the boot drive, copied it over to the sata using diskwizard, try to boot off it and it says error loading os. thats the same as an 'invalid boot disk error'.

i tried installing xp pro with sp2, normal xp and drivers from a floppy, each time i got the same invalid boot drive error.
when xp is installing, it can see both drives when it asks which drive to isntall on. it can see the sata and copies all the files onto the drive. when it restarts to boot, the bios gives me the invalid boot drive error.

the sata drive works perfectly fine when the ide is the boot drive, it just will not boot off it.

Cogar · 03-17-2005, 11:40 PM

That is interesting. I also read your other thread (link), which answered some of my other diagnostic questions. Did you try just copying everything including the OS from the original IDE drive (clone the drive) rather than trying to reinstall the OS on the SATA drive? When you were done did you notice the drive letters swapped? (The point is I am looking for differences that may give us a clue regarding what happened or did not happen.)

Additionally, there is a possibility (unknown to me at least) that DiscWizard may work better for Seagate drives than Maxtor drives. You might check the Maxtor site and see if they have a similar utility.

Slidje · 03-18-2005, 03:19 AM

after cloning the drives, the letters didnt change. thats because i cant boot into the other hard drive, so how would i know if they have changed.

diskwizard has worked perfectly with every type of hard drive i have ever used so its not diskwizard.
i also get the problem when installing winxp from scratch.

i realised yesterday this isnt really a problem to do with your guide since it happens when installing xp from scratch as well.

thanks a lot for your help though.

Cogar · 03-18-2005, 11:52 AM

OK. It just occurred to me that a hard drive can behave strangely when it does not have enough power. I had a problem with my HDD being recognized as an invalid drive when it shared a power lead with the video card. When it got its own power lead (shared only with another HDD), the problem went away. You might consider checking into that as well.

sk33ny · 12-20-2005, 04:19 AM

Im having the same problem. I just purchased a 80gb Sata 150 Hard Drive to use as the boot drive. I have x2 200gb ultra ATA 100 Hard Drives. When those are plugged in it gives me a error as its starting up saying "error loading os" When the IDE Drives are not plugged in it will boot just fine. Ive kind of figured out that the its trying to boot from the IDE drive instead of the Sata. This was a clean install with content backed up on the IDE drives.

Also whats strange is that in the Bios it calls the Sata drive a IDE drive.

One other problem is Windows wont register, but thats another story.

moregolf · 12-20-2005, 07:18 AM

Just did a similar thing. I moved all the data and pgms from a Maxtor SCSI U160 drive using Acronis TI, to a new SATA 150 120G drive. Changed the boot sequence in the BIOS and it works fine. I was having issues with an Adaptec 19160 controller.

sk33ny · 12-20-2005, 07:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by moregolf

Just did a similar thing. I moved all the data and pgms from a Maxtor SCSI U160 drive using Acronis TI, to a new SATA 150 120G drive. Changed the boot sequence in the BIOS and it works fine. I was having issues with an Adaptec 19160 controller.

What agsactly did you do?

moregolf · 12-20-2005, 07:56 AM

Comp off, added card, plugged in HDD, turned on. Used Seagate tools (It's a Seagate Dr and I use nothing but Seagates from here on), set the drive up as one partition. Used Acronis TI to clone the drive to the old SCSI. Took the adaptec SCSI Stuff out. I did this because the SIIG controller I used also comes up as a SCSI device, didn't want the confusion. Booted the com, went to the BIOS and set the SCSI device as the primary boot. All is well.

sk33ny · 12-27-2005, 10:11 PM

Well i fixed it. I just changed the jumpers on the two Pata Drives from Slave to Cable Select. After that it reads them and let me changes them in bios but now im getting a error saying there currupt and when i check there size it says there 0 bytes. I hope i havent lost all my stuff.

shahzad_rasool · 02-09-2006, 02:31 AM

Dear all,

Hello,
I hope you're fine. I've been through posts here for SATA. But I couldn't find the solution. This brief guide has been nice. But I've a problem here.
Its a GigaByte GA-K8U motherboard. with ALi's ULi RAID controller and its BIOS software. I've installed the single SATA drive I have with me physically. When RAID software starts, it detects the only installed SATA drive fine. But it has 3 RAID options to choose from, RAID0, RAID1 and JBOD. None of the option allows me to create a RAID array with only ONE SATA drive, rather it asks for more than one. I checked installing JBOD drive online, it also says it needs at least 2 to create a JBOD array.

Please help me with this. One more thing, I didn't enable pins with jumper on the drive which says "pin 5 and 6 enables SATA 150Mbps only operation" Do i really need to do that? since SATA drives don't need any master/slave interfaces.

Thank you.

Cogar · 02-09-2006, 02:10 PM

RAID is an acronym for Redundant Array of Independent Disks. It requires using at least two hard drives, and some versions, like RAID 5 need at least three IIRC. You do not want to set up RAID, so if you are being confronted with a screen asking you to set up RAID, you may have an incorrect setting in your BIOS.

I do not know the correct jumper settings for this drive, although someone else here may. I would suggest checking the manufacturer's site for documentation.

02-24-2005, 10:43 AM	#2
Cogar Sleuth Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: It varies, but usually within 100 feet of a keyboard. Posts: 7,197	Moving an operating system from an existing IDE drive to a SATA drive. Taking the exercise a step further, I used Seagate's DiscWizard for Windows (also called DiscWizard 2003) to move the OS and all the files to the new SATA drive. Using the DiscWizard for Windows, the operation is almost self-explanatory. Still, I am posting this guide in case someone wants to read how it is done to decide whether they wish to try the operation themselves. Note: I am guessing the other hard drive manufacturers have similar software, although I can only describe what I have done. Step 1. Download DiscWizard for Windows from the Seagate site. The download page is currently located here: http://www.seagate.com/support/disc/...s/discwiz.html Step 2. Complete steps 1-7 in the original installing a SATA drive guide. Although I completed all of the steps in the guide, I believe you will only have to get to the point where the drivers are installed (step 7) and Windows recognizes the drive to proceed, if you so choose. Step 3. If you are overclocking, I suggest you remove the overclock for this operation. I noticed the CPU temperatures went unusually high during the copy process and I am guessing that your CPU will be run at 100% the entire time. Step 4. Shut down all windows programs, including antivirus and other programs that run in the background. Since this "exposes" your computer, I also recommend physically disconnecting your computer from the connection it uses to access the Internet. If you are on a local network, you should be disconnected from it as well. Step 5. Double click the DiscWizard .exe file. It will install the program on your computer. Run the program. Step 6. You will be presented with several easy-to-choose options. Go through the screens making the appropriate choices. The key screen asks you how you wish to install the drive. You have three choices: a. Use the new drive as additional storage. (You already have this if you followed the previous guide.) b. Use the new drive as the boot drive, keeping the old drive in the system. This is the option we will use. The existing IDE drive will make a good backup drive. c. Use the new drive as the boot drive, removing the old drive from the system. Step 7. The program will copy the OS and your entire directory structure to the new drive. Depending on the speed of your system and the amount of data you are transferring, this will take from 15 minutes to possibly over an hour. Step 8. DiskWizard will ask if you want to print out a guide. If you wish to, do so. Step 9. DiskWizard will then tell you it wants to shut down your computer. It may say it will restart it, but in my case, the computer shut down. Step 10. Start your computer and escape into BIOS. You will need to do two things: a. Enable your SATA drive as a boot drive. In the BIOS of my wife's A7V600, the path was: Advanced --> I/O Device Configuration --> Onboard ATA Boot ROM [Enabled] b. Put your SATA drive in the boot sequence. I had floppy first, DVD drive second, and IDE drive third. I placed the SATA drive (called [SCSI / Onboard ATA Boot Device]) in the third spot, which moved the IDE drive to fourth. Save your BIOS settings and restart your computer. Step 11. Since DiskWizard abruptly shuts down the computer without shutting down Windows, when restarted, Windows will complain and check your old IDE boot drive for errors. This process will take perhaps a half hour, depending on the size of the drive. Step 12. When Windows is satisfied the drive is OK, it will continue to boot into Windows using the new SATA boot drive. Start your antivirus and other programs (if they did not start automatically) and reconnect your Internet and related connections. You should also notice that the drive letters for the IDE and SATA drives have swapped. The process is now complete.
(Offline)

03-15-2005, 09:14 AM	#3
Slidje Registered User Join Date: Feb 2003 Posts: 42	ive been trying this for a while now and it doesnt work for me. after the system posts and tries to boot off the harddrive, it gives the error message 'error loading operating system'. asus a8n sli delux 939 3000+ winchester geil value dual channel 1gb ddr gainward gf6600 sata maxtor drive ide maxtor drive lg dvd dl writer
(Offline)

03-16-2005, 05:52 AM	#5
Slidje Registered User Join Date: Feb 2003 Posts: 42	im not sure what you mean by that. i had the ide as the boot drive, copied it over to the sata using diskwizard, try to boot off it and it says error loading os. thats the same as an 'invalid boot disk error'. i tried installing xp pro with sp2, normal xp and drivers from a floppy, each time i got the same invalid boot drive error. when xp is installing, it can see both drives when it asks which drive to isntall on. it can see the sata and copies all the files onto the drive. when it restarts to boot, the bios gives me the invalid boot drive error. the sata drive works perfectly fine when the ide is the boot drive, it just will not boot off it.
(Offline)

03-17-2005, 11:40 PM	#6
Cogar Sleuth Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: It varies, but usually within 100 feet of a keyboard. Posts: 7,197	That is interesting. I also read your other thread (link), which answered some of my other diagnostic questions. Did you try just copying everything including the OS from the original IDE drive (clone the drive) rather than trying to reinstall the OS on the SATA drive? When you were done did you notice the drive letters swapped? (The point is I am looking for differences that may give us a clue regarding what happened or did not happen.) Additionally, there is a possibility (unknown to me at least) that DiscWizard may work better for Seagate drives than Maxtor drives. You might check the Maxtor site and see if they have a similar utility.
(Offline)

03-18-2005, 03:19 AM	#7
Slidje Registered User Join Date: Feb 2003 Posts: 42	after cloning the drives, the letters didnt change. thats because i cant boot into the other hard drive, so how would i know if they have changed. diskwizard has worked perfectly with every type of hard drive i have ever used so its not diskwizard. i also get the problem when installing winxp from scratch. i realised yesterday this isnt really a problem to do with your guide since it happens when installing xp from scratch as well. thanks a lot for your help though.
(Offline)

03-18-2005, 11:52 AM	#8
Cogar Sleuth Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: It varies, but usually within 100 feet of a keyboard. Posts: 7,197	OK. It just occurred to me that a hard drive can behave strangely when it does not have enough power. I had a problem with my HDD being recognized as an invalid drive when it shared a power lead with the video card. When it got its own power lead (shared only with another HDD), the problem went away. You might consider checking into that as well.
(Offline)

12-20-2005, 04:19 AM	#9
sk33ny Computer Guru Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: San Jose, California Posts: 124	Im having the same problem. I just purchased a 80gb Sata 150 Hard Drive to use as the boot drive. I have x2 200gb ultra ATA 100 Hard Drives. When those are plugged in it gives me a error as its starting up saying "error loading os" When the IDE Drives are not plugged in it will boot just fine. Ive kind of figured out that the its trying to boot from the IDE drive instead of the Sata. This was a clean install with content backed up on the IDE drives. Also whats strange is that in the Bios it calls the Sata drive a IDE drive. One other problem is Windows wont register, but thats another story. __________________ Main Rig: 24" Widescreen Dell UltraSharp 2407WFP \| Intel Pentium 4 3.2ghz (Prescott) CPU with HT \| 1024MB (512MBx2) pc3200 Kingston HyperX RAM 2-2-2-5 \| Abit IC7-G Motherboard \| 80GB Boot Drive \| Dual 200GB Storage Drives \| Sapphire Radeon x850xt-pe Rig2: Modified Sony Vaio 2.4ghz Pentium 4 (NorthWood) CPU \| 1024MB (512MBx2) pc2100 RAM \| Asus p4s533vx Motherboard \| 80GB Hard Drive \| Sapphire Radeon x700 Rig3: Custom AMD Athlon XP 2600+ 1.9ghz\| 768MB (256MBx3) pc3200 RAM\| 80GB Hard Drive \| ATI All-in-Wonder x800xt Rig4: Modified Compaq Presario 7000 \| Pentium III 800mhz CPU \| 192MB Ram \| Compaq 06bch Motherboard \| 40GB Hard Drive Rig5: Custom Server \| Dual 850mhz Pentium III CPUS \| 1GB (512mb + 256mbx2) PC100 ECC Registered Ram \| Intel L44OGX+ Server Board \| 18GB 10,000rpm scsi Boot Drive \| 20gb & 40gb Storage Drives \| 2u Rack Server Case
(Offline)

12-20-2005, 07:18 AM	#10
moregolf Registered User Join Date: May 2001 Location: Denver Posts: 1,464	Just did a similar thing. I moved all the data and pgms from a Maxtor SCSI U160 drive using Acronis TI, to a new SATA 150 120G drive. Changed the boot sequence in the BIOS and it works fine. I was having issues with an Adaptec 19160 controller.
(Offline)

12-20-2005, 07:56 AM	#12
moregolf Registered User Join Date: May 2001 Location: Denver Posts: 1,464	Comp off, added card, plugged in HDD, turned on. Used Seagate tools (It's a Seagate Dr and I use nothing but Seagates from here on), set the drive up as one partition. Used Acronis TI to clone the drive to the old SCSI. Took the adaptec SCSI Stuff out. I did this because the SIIG controller I used also comes up as a SCSI device, didn't want the confusion. Booted the com, went to the BIOS and set the SCSI device as the primary boot. All is well.
(Offline)

12-27-2005, 10:11 PM	#13
sk33ny Computer Guru Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: San Jose, California Posts: 124	Well i fixed it. I just changed the jumpers on the two Pata Drives from Slave to Cable Select. After that it reads them and let me changes them in bios but now im getting a error saying there currupt and when i check there size it says there 0 bytes. I hope i havent lost all my stuff. __________________ Main Rig: 24" Widescreen Dell UltraSharp 2407WFP \| Intel Pentium 4 3.2ghz (Prescott) CPU with HT \| 1024MB (512MBx2) pc3200 Kingston HyperX RAM 2-2-2-5 \| Abit IC7-G Motherboard \| 80GB Boot Drive \| Dual 200GB Storage Drives \| Sapphire Radeon x850xt-pe Rig2: Modified Sony Vaio 2.4ghz Pentium 4 (NorthWood) CPU \| 1024MB (512MBx2) pc2100 RAM \| Asus p4s533vx Motherboard \| 80GB Hard Drive \| Sapphire Radeon x700 Rig3: Custom AMD Athlon XP 2600+ 1.9ghz\| 768MB (256MBx3) pc3200 RAM\| 80GB Hard Drive \| ATI All-in-Wonder x800xt Rig4: Modified Compaq Presario 7000 \| Pentium III 800mhz CPU \| 192MB Ram \| Compaq 06bch Motherboard \| 40GB Hard Drive Rig5: Custom Server \| Dual 850mhz Pentium III CPUS \| 1GB (512mb + 256mbx2) PC100 ECC Registered Ram \| Intel L44OGX+ Server Board \| 18GB 10,000rpm scsi Boot Drive \| 20gb & 40gb Storage Drives \| 2u Rack Server Case
(Offline)

02-09-2006, 02:31 AM	#14
shahzad_rasool Registered User Join Date: Feb 2006 Posts: 4	Installing a single SATA drive Dear all, Hello, I hope you're fine. I've been through posts here for SATA. But I couldn't find the solution. This brief guide has been nice. But I've a problem here. Its a GigaByte GA-K8U motherboard. with ALi's ULi RAID controller and its BIOS software. I've installed the single SATA drive I have with me physically. When RAID software starts, it detects the only installed SATA drive fine. But it has 3 RAID options to choose from, RAID0, RAID1 and JBOD. None of the option allows me to create a RAID array with only ONE SATA drive, rather it asks for more than one. I checked installing JBOD drive online, it also says it needs at least 2 to create a JBOD array. Please help me with this. One more thing, I didn't enable pins with jumper on the drive which says "pin 5 and 6 enables SATA 150Mbps only operation" Do i really need to do that? since SATA drives don't need any master/slave interfaces. Thank you.
(Offline)

02-09-2006, 02:10 PM	#15
Cogar Sleuth Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: It varies, but usually within 100 feet of a keyboard. Posts: 7,197	RAID is an acronym for Redundant Array of Independent Disks. It requires using at least two hard drives, and some versions, like RAID 5 need at least three IIRC. You do not want to set up RAID, so if you are being confronted with a screen asking you to set up RAID, you may have an incorrect setting in your BIOS. I do not know the correct jumper settings for this drive, although someone else here may. I would suggest checking the manufacturer's site for documentation.
(Offline)

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