8KNXP - No ICH5R - 120GB SEAGATE SATA remapped as PATA on XP

I built my system about 2 or 3 months ago and at the time I couldn't
figure out how to install XP on the drive as SATA 0. In the end I just
remapped it as IDE 1 and now my whole life is on the system and I'm
just wondering if I'm going to have to reformat and start all over
again. Or can I just reinstal XP (and do the F6 Intel RAID driver
instal) and end up being able to rescue the rest?

Is the difference in performance between a correctly installed SATA
drive and the same drive remapped as PATA significant enough to bother
starting from 0?

 

Azania,

I have the same problem. The descriptions of how to set up real S-ATA
on these motherboards is confusing, to say the least. Now that I understand
it, I also started wondering if this mapping mode was slower than normal
S-ATA. I couldn't find an answer on the web, so I did some of my own
research (also leading me to this post).

My Maxtor drive is reviewed on www.tomshardware.com, with full benchmarks
posted. I simply downloaded the ZD Winbench 99 and ran my own test to
compare. The mapped mode is, in fact, about HALF the performance of what my
drive was rated at on Tom's Hardware (for the high-end business performance
test). No way am I leaving it like that.

I tried booting from the drive correctly configured (S-ATA Port 0, S-ATA
controller enabled in BASE mode) and the system simply reboots at the WinXP
startup screen. I assume it can't find the controller, etc. No big
surprise.

To work around it, I plan on using Partition Magic to move my current stuff
to a second small partition (just large enough to fit it), create a new
primary, and boot up correctly when installing Windows to the new partition.
Afterwards, I hope to remerge the two partitions, if the newest version of
PM allows this (I don't remember, as I haven't used it in a long time).

 

Well, it seems to have worked just fine. Except that the old partition is
no longer readable. :S I'll have to reinstall ParitionMagic to see if it
can recover it...Windows just says it's an unknown partition type. I'm sure
it won't be a problem to fix. (crosses fingers).

Regarding the performance increase, I am seeing about a 25% increase in
performance using the Intel SATA controller, along with the Intel
Application Accelerator. So basically, it's up to you if it's worth it or
not.

 

Lone VVolf,

I really appreciate your posts. I hadn't though about doing it with
PartitionMagic. I sure hope you manage to recover the old partition. I
don't know anything really about the technical aspects of SATA vs PATA
drives but could it be that one a SATA drive when partitioned whilst
operating as a 'pseudo-PATA' cannot be read once it operates in its
native mode? If that is the case you could probably make the old
partition readable again only by going back to remapping it as a PATA?

At any rate even a 25% increase is respectable and, come to think
about it, there's not much point in using new technology masquerading
as old. Anyway good luck! In the meantime I'll be immersing myself in
the PartitionMagic manual - my drive is currently partitioned into six
with one unit unformatted set aside for Linux...

 

Yeah, it worked out fine. After splitting them, I had to reinstall PM, and
simply mark the old partition as no longer hidden. Then it showed up just
fine.
Also, I miscalculated. It's a 50% increease in speed. Enjoy!

 

Lone Wolf I find this very interesting however I do not understand what
you did. I gather that your primary partition is mapped to "IDE Pri.
Master" and "SATA RAID Function" disabled. Then you remapped your
second partition? Would you mind explaining how you did that?
TIA, Michael