Using SATA Hard Drives...

[karling07]

Hello!

I have just bought this SATA Hard Drive:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822144153

and had a few questions. My motherboard (http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1649101) does have SATA support, but I just am not sure how to set it up. I have read that I do not need to change the pins on the drive or anything (master/slave).

My power supply (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817153023) says it has SATA power cords, so does this mean that SATA hard drives use different power?

Also, is it hard to get Windows XP to recognize large sized drives on SATA?

Random question: i just bought a new power cable because my other one was giving me problems. Is it a better idea to use this brand new one or the one that comes with the PSU?

Thanks!

 

[BigLu]

No, it's not hard to set up an sata drive. And all you do is just plug a sata cable from the mobo to the hard drive, and use the psu's sata power cable to the sata hard drive. You might need a boot floppy to set it up tho.

 

[karling07]

Ok thanks! So if any additional drivers are needed, my hard drive will give all instructions/drivers?

 

[BigLu]

no, like, my new hitachi drive, i have to download the drivers and make a floppy.

 

[karling07]

So how will I know if I need the drivers on a floppy?

Also, looking at my motherboard above, will I need to do ANYTHING other than these exact steps (anything I don't mention, I won't do, so please let me know if im missing something!)

1. Mount the SATA drive into the computer
2. Use the cord to connect the SATA drive to the SATA - 1 connection on the motherboard
3. Use one of the two SATA power cords from the PSU and connect to the power area on the SATA drive.

That's it?

 

[TRDCorolla1]

You'll know if you need a SATA driver sloppy if you can't get Windows to install or an error saying something about hard drive not detected. INstalling a SATA drive is pretty simple (physically). Those are pretty much the steps. I remember SATA have their own unique power molex which is thin and small compared to the traditional power connector.

Make sure you don't bend the SATA data cable too much or you can break it. You forgot to mention the step to screw the holes onto the drive, securing it to the case.

 

[karling07]

Ok, thanks. So my hardware is definitely SATA1, not SATA2, right?

 

[TRDCorolla1]

Ok, from the motherboard specs, it reads out to be SATAII but your hard drive is SATA I. Meaning, that it will probably step down or it won't work at all. I've always matched my hard drive to what my motherboard wants so I"m not sure if it will match it to SATA I speeds. Logic tells me it should.

 

[karling07]

I've read up on it and it seems that SATA is backwards compatible with SATAII (but I guess I'll find out when I connect it )

 

[TRDCorolla1]

Yeah, that's what I was thinking too. Unless you want to upgrade to a SATA II drive with the 3Gb/s instead.