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  • #2155408

    SATA Boot drive with IDE hard drive as storage

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    by caes4 ·

    I am having a problem I hope someone can help me with.
    I am trying to install windows on a SATA hard drive while keeping my old IDE hard drive as storage.
    my sys specs are:

    MSI K8N Neo4 fx motherboard
    st3160827as barracuda 7200.7 hard drive
    some old seagate IDE 32 gb hard drive
    WinXP Home SP1
    I have 2 IDE connectors

    For some reason, THe computer always boots the IDE HD before the SATA. I have set the boot order priority to the SATA before the IDE.
    on windows setup it attempts to install the windows onto the SATA D: but the boot is installed onto the IDE C:
    THe only way I can install the boot onto the SATA drive is if I set the boot priority of the HD before the CDROM. When i do this everything runs smoothly and the SATA is labelled C: and the IDE HD is F:
    but once i set the boot priority to CDROM before HD, the IDE HD boots before the SATA again and i get the NTLDR is missing error because the boot is not located on the IDE hd.

    How do i fix this?

    thank

All Answers

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    • #2986789

      Clarifications

      by caes4 ·

      In reply to SATA Boot drive with IDE hard drive as storage

      Clarifications

    • #2986787

      Unplug the IDE

      by thumbsup2 ·

      In reply to SATA Boot drive with IDE hard drive as storage

      Unplug the IDE drive until you get the OS installed on the SATA drive. You can add it later.

      Note: You will need SATA drivers during the first part of the install or it won’t be able to see the SATA drive.

    • #2986785

      BIOS problem

      by cg it ·

      In reply to SATA Boot drive with IDE hard drive as storage

      might check on the MSI web site for an updated BIOS. Also MSI has an extensive forum for users of their motherboards. Might post the question there as well.

      note: the BIOS is what tells the operating system where to find the boot drive. Typically, on older motherboards, your SATA is seen as mass storage device and assigned a mass storage device lable instead of the standard HDD-0, HDD-1,HDD-2, etc. The standard HDD-0, HDD-1 refers to ATA drives so if you assign the boot order as HDD-0 it will look for an ATA drive.

      you might also check with TheChas here on TR. He’s the resident hardware guru. Try a peer mail to him.

    • #2986775
      Avatar photo

      You need to load the SATA Driver

      by hal 9000 ·

      In reply to SATA Boot drive with IDE hard drive as storage

      To do this press the [b]F6 Key[/b] when the first Blue Windows Screen appears during the Install process and wait till you are prompted to insert the SCSI/RAID Driver which here you require the SATA Driver for your OS copied to the Root of a Floppy.
      This means just copy the SATA Driver to the Floppy not in a folder.

      When you are prompted insert the floppy and press enter this will load the SATA Driver and allow you to format the SATA Drive and install Windows on it. Though if you latter remove the IDE Drive you will have to reinstall Windows as the Hardware will copy some basic install Windows Files to the IDE Drive. If you install Windows without the IDE Drive installed when you reattach the IDE Drive the Hardware will go looking on that IDE Drive for the Basic Files to start the system up so once you install Windows you [b]Can Not[/b] make any changes to the HDD configuration except add more HDD’s to the mix.

      If you don’t have a Floppy available you can make a Slipstreamed Install Disc & include the SATA Drivers by following the directions in this TR Article which is mainly about adding Service Packs to the old Install Media and create new Install Disc’s but the same process as adding drivers can be used.

      http://articles.techrepublic.com.com/5100-10878_11-6150784.html?tag=rbxccnbtr1

      Or download a PDF File of this article from here

      http://downloads.techrepublic.com.com/abstract.aspx?docid=172974

      Or use a Product Like nLite to make a Slipstreamed Install Disc

      http://www.nliteos.com/download.html

      If you chose to use nLite make sure to read the Users Instructions on their Web Site available under Guides here

      http://www.nliteos.com/guides.html

      Just select your preferred language and your there. 🙂

      Col

      • #2986763

        ide unplugged

        by caes4 ·

        In reply to You need to load the SATA Driver

        Hi, i have tried loading OS onto sata first with ide unplugged.
        It works, but then once i reattach the IDE, it boots the IDE first and the computer wont boot because it cant find the NTDLR or any of the boot files because they are all located on the SATA.
        But anwyays, so I have the VIA SATA RAID floppy that came with the motherboard. I put it in and when i press F6 it says I am aabout to install VIA RAID drivers. But it doesnt not say anything about SATA. is this normal?
        if I am able to install onto the SATA drive doesnt that mean that it already has the sata drivers installed anwayys?

        • #2986720

          Some Driver Makers use the Same Name for RAID & SATA

          by oh smeg ·

          In reply to ide unplugged

          As for not requiring the SATA Drivers if you can see the IDE and SATA Drive when given the Option of which Disc you want to Install Windows on then your answer is No you don’t need them just chose to install to the SATA Drive. But if only the IDE Drive appears in this Section of the Windows Installer then you [b]Do Need[/b] to load the SATA Drivers.

          If you look at the SATA/RAID Floppy that came with the M’Board you will find that there are several Folders located on it. You [b]Can Not[/b] use this Floppy you need to Copy the Driver that you require to the Root of a Floppy and use that copy to install the SATA/RAID Drivers. VIA is one of the companies who confuse SATA & Raid together as the same thing.

          As for installing Without the IDE Drive Connected this is [b]Hardware[/b] related and revolves around the way that the Hardware works. This type of M’Board [b]Always[/b] looks to an IDE Drive for the Primary Files required to Load Windows. So if there is not one there when the system is Originally Loaded and then a IDE Drive is Added to any position on the M’Boards IDE Controller the system [b]Will Not[/b] load Windows as the Base Install/Load files are not found.

          Col

        • #2986593

          OK so what do i do?

          by caes4 ·

          In reply to Some Driver Makers use the Same Name for RAID & SATA

          Ok then i probalby dont need the sata disk?
          because when i enter windows install it sees both hard drives but as long as I have the cdrom to boot before the HD,
          if I choose to install windows on the SATA, it will first write the boot files on the IDE.
          What can i do to fix this?

        • #2987304

          Change the M’Board, CPU and RAM to something newer

          by oh smeg ·

          In reply to OK so what do i do?

          That is the only way as there is nothing wrong here it is a Basic Hardware Issue where the Hardware always looks at any IDE Drive as the First Boot Device.

          Provided you do not alter the HDD arraignment the unit will work perfectly well but there is no way to override the way that the Hardware works. This is related the the Chip Set used to make the M’Board and how it was designed to work. The only way around this is to change the Chip Set to one that Natively Supports and Uses SATA Drives. These come with several SATA Connectors On Board generally 6 or 8 but that number can vary depending on who makes the M’Board and only 1 2 Channel IDE Port so you can install up to 8 SATA Devices but only 2 IDE Drives.

          Get the Idea? It’s not a problem unless you chose to make it one. It is just like complaining that the new Mazda 3 that you bought yesterday can not compete in a F1 Race. It wasn’t designed or built to do that just as that F1 Car wasn’t designed or built to be a Daily Driver through Peek Hour Traffic. 🙂

          Col

        • #2978338

          LOL

          by caes4 ·

          In reply to Change the M’Board, CPU and RAM to something newer

          haha. Well my motherboard does have 4 SATA ports and 2 IDE ports. I would say the analogy is more like a MAZDA 3 with souped up parts but arent capable of using them for some reason.

        • #2978308

          No you can use it that way

          by oh smeg ·

          In reply to LOL

          But once it’s loaded you can not make changes to the HDD configeration. Well that’s not strictly speaking correct you can add more IDE or SATA Drives without a problem from the M’Board though you may have to increase the size of the Power Supply but you just can not add or Remove that initial IDE Drive. 🙂

          I have setup systems like that for years to Boot off SATA Drives and they have worked flawlessly. Of course when the owner pulls it apart to replace the IDE Drive with something bigger they hit a problem but in every case I have used the Biggest IDE Drive that the BIOS can support so if they try to fit a bigger HDD the BIOS can not correctly see it anyway. 😀

          Only possible problem could come about if you use one of the crappy IDE Drives that fails every few months that would give you a Issue but with the better ones the systems just work till they are written off by the Accountants as no longer being useful.

          Col

        • #2978305

          Did you try

          by the scummy one ·

          In reply to LOL

          changing the IDE disk from an active partition?

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