My original intention was to try to get an old IDE image to work on an
SATA drive, but I'm finally giving up and so I've decided to do a fresh
install. Much thanks to those who have helped me in the past either
directly or through me reading threads I wasn't involved in. I'm gonna
apologize in advance if my questions seem a little too obvious. They
aren't meant to be! I've actually been throwing PCs together
succesfully for about a decade now, but SATA caught me off guard.
Installing XP (full version retail SP2) onto Western Digital SE16 329GB
SATA.
Motherboard: GA-965P-S3 (essentially the same as the DS3 in terms of
function)
#1. I don't plan to use RAID. I want to run my only OS from the SATA
drive. I would also like to use my IDE CDRom. However, in the future,
I might want to add a second SATA drive or I might even want to throw
on one of my older IDE hard drives for storage (not OS). That said,
I'd like to keep my options open as much as possible without creating
conflicts. Seems to me that my best bet is the purple ported
JMicron/Gigabyte supported SATA. If I understand correctly, that gives
me the ability to run in AHCI. I know JMicron controller requires the
F6 option during the OS install which brings me to my biggest point of
confusion. Using the WinXP 32 bit driver from the website, there are
actually 4 options during the OS install:
Gigabyte GBB363 RAID Controller (win 2k/xp/2003)
Gigabyte GBB363 AHCI Controller (win 2k/xp/2003)
Gigabyte GBB360 RAID Controller (win 2k/xp/2003)
Gigabyte GBB360 AHCI Controller (win 2k/xp/2003)
Given what I want to do, what's the best way to keep my options open?
I thought the F6 option during install only allowed you to load one
driver, but other usenet threads suggest you can load many. If so, do
I select them all at once somehow or is there a way to go back and F6
again? If I am able to install multiple drivers, would that create any
future conflicts? Could I, for example, load AHCI and RAID just to
keep the door open? Anyway, if I don't want to use RAID and I'd like
to try AHCI, then I guess AHCI is the way to go.
#2. Although I plan to use the Jmicron SATA controller, is it true
that I wouldn't need to use the F6 option if I simply used the (orange)
ICH8 ports? (There are some conflicting usenet posts about this).
#3. I formated and partitioned the SATA drive while booting from and
IDE drive. I intend to reformat the SATA active partition before
installing XP, but can I leave the other partitions created by the IDE
or could this cause some kind of IDE-SATA conflict? (partions created
using XP's Disk Manager utility software).
#4. Eventually, I'd like to use True Image to make images of the SATA.
One way to use this software is to create a boot CD lets you run True
Image from the CD. Does this mean I would need to also install the DOS
SATA driver during OS install? Is the F6 option the only way to
install the DOS driver?
#5. In the BIOS, if I'm not using RAID but would like to use IDE for
my IDE CdRom while using the SATA Hard Drive, does that mean I need to
set "Onboard SATA/IDE control mode" for "IDE" or will it all still work
if I'm in "AHCI" mode?
Sure do appreciate any help I can get!
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