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New System Disk for XP Pro

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14 replies

by pierrejamme

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I currently have a SATA 120GB hard drive in my computer with XP Pro on it. I have a new 120GB SATA disk I want to add as the primary and re-install XP Pro and use the old disk as data storage.
Do I need to do anything to the old installation if I change it to the other SATA connection, or can I just connect new disk to the Number one cable and the old to the number 2 cable and install XP Pro?

14 replies

by cg it

To get RAID 5 you basically need their RAID 5 controller card [add on card].http://www.promise.com/marketing/Landing%20Pages/RAID%205%20Landing%20Page/RAID%205.asp

Most of todays motherboards with the Promise SATA controller build in works like an RAID array where you have either the choise of a mirrored or striped array [striped being both drives are seen as 1 BIG drive].

by pierrejamme

I know about Raid 5, I said nothing about that in my question.
I plan on two drives. the new one for the Windows System and Programs and the old one will be for data/download storage. I am the network administer and like to keep copies of all the patches in case I want to revert to an older version after patching.

by feathersmcgraw

You don't have to do anything to the "old" XP Pro disk if you don't want to. Just be sure to make the new disk the master and the old XP Pro disk the slave. Since it is NTFS to NTFS XP will be able to see the other hard drive.

by pierrejamme

Feathersmcgraw:
That sounds like what I want. If it was IDE I would know how to make one the master, but since it isn't I am not sure. Answer this question and i will award You the points.
Do I make the new one Master by plugging it into the first SATA cable socket? If not how do I make it master?

by cg it

Dude

I explained that the Promise SATA onboard Controller makes an "array" of the 2 drives with only 2 options, mirror or striped and does not see the drives as 2 seperate drives. To be able to do that, you have to buy the Promise SATA add in PCI controller card and use the Promise software.

by cg it

you can partition out the SATA array and assign drive letters to those partitions, but you cant seperate SATA drives by a hardware master slave configuration using jumpers like you can with IDE. To do that, you need the SATA PCI controller card what works just like the SCSI controller card [which has its own BIOS on the card and works in conjunction with the BIOS on the mainboard to designate individual drives to a role such as master slave.

by pierrejamme

CG IT:
Thanks for all your help. I finally ended up copying my data files to the new drive and then formatting the old drive and re-installing.
If the old drive dies then I will just replace it in the future. Oh well, can't have everything.

by feathersmcgraw

From Seagate:

Each drive on the serial ATA interface connects in a point-to-point configuration with the serial ATA host adapter. There is no master/slave relationship because each drive is considered a master in a point-to-point relationships. If two drives are attached on one serial ATA host adapter, the host operating system views the two devices as if they were both ?masters? on two separate ports. This means both drives behave as if they are Device 0 (master) devices. Each drive has its own cable.

Your serial ATA host adapter may provide master/slave emulation options. See your host adapter documentation for details.
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Check your configuration on your host adapater.

by willcomp

I know of no way to have 2 bootable HDDs connected to the same SATA controller without either causing a boot failure or boot inconsistencies.

You can render old drive non-bootable and leave files on it.

Dalton

by pierrejamme

Still looking for an answer if there is one. Willcomp seems on the right track.
Stay tuned,
Peter

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