Sata Connections?

[Daffy D]

Hi All

I recently treated myself to a new motherboard that has 2 SATA connections.

There was a thread recently about connecting a drive to the SATA and the answer was just plug it in and the system will recognize it. OK fine

My question is what should the setting be on the SATA drive? I already have two hard drives set to master and slave and two CD drives set to master and slave.

If I install another drive either hard drive or CD using the SATA connection what should I set this third drive as?

Also, if I connect the system drive (C:) to SATA would that give better / quicker performance than leaving it as master on the IDE connection?

Running XP Pro-SP2 with ASUSP5VD2-MX SE motherboard.

Thanks in advance

D.D.

[Florin]

The drive you buy won't even have a setting for Master/Slave, since that concept doesn't exist in the case of SATA, so you just plug it in.

Also, it has no interference with your other drives, because the SATA ports are powered by a completely different controller chip than your regular IDE ports.

And yes, putting Windows on it would be good, it will quite likely be the fastest hard-disk in your system.

[Tywais]

As Florin says, SATA has no jumpers for Master/Slave - just plug it in. However the drive may have a jumper to select 150/300 which is the speed compatibility mode. Normally want it set for 300 if using a mainboard that supports the 300.

[Daffy D]

Thanks guys for the fast responce.

Will look for a new SATA HDD on next visit to the big city

D.D.

[Tywais]

One other thing. SATA uses a different power connector, so make sure either your power supply has the right one or be sure you have an adapter from the standard 4-pin to SATA power.

[Naam]

three mechanically broken S-ATA drives from different vendors and different manufacturers (Maxtor, Seagate and Western Digital) during the last 14 months. back to my old reliable ATAs which never gave me any problems in more than 20 years.

by the way, the speed advantage of S-ATA drives is highly overrated and only measurable with testing software. when working with them one does not realize the slightest difference except for start-up where a few seconds are gained. when cloning drives the speed difference is noticeable. cloning 15 gb from S-ATA to S-ATA = 8 minutes, from ATA to ATA 9 min 20 sec. but saving 1min 20sec? <deleted>!

[Daffy D]

I was getting all exited daydreaming about saving my pennies to buy a new SATA hard drive on our next visit to the big city. I was mentally planning what programs to install or discard to get a nice clean install with quick boot times.

After having read the latest posts I will have another think about it, maybe stay with the tried and tested ATA.

While on the subject if I did want to install Windows (C:) on the SATA drive how would it boot? Is there a setting in BIOS to - erm! - set? At the moment my BIOS is set to Floppy-HDD-CD.

What about the two hard drives already installed should I then set them both to slave?

Thanks for your answers.

D.D.

[Tywais]

After having read the latest posts I will have another think about it, maybe stay with the tried and tested ATA.

I wouldn't worry about one members' experience. I've installed probably 50 of them at the laboratory and at home and some running for more then two years including servers running 24/7, no failures on any of them. Also, ATA drives will become harder to find and as such become more expensive then SATA at some point. Motherboards are already reducing the number of ATA connectors and increasing SATA connectors.

[Simmo]

While on the subject if I did want to install Windows (C:) on the SATA drive how would it boot? Is there a setting in BIOS to - erm! - set? At the moment my BIOS is set to Floppy-HDD-CD.

On most mboards, you'll find a BIOS settings named "SATA mode" with Raid & IDE options - setting it to IDE will make it appear to the OS as a normal bootable drive. To boot from a RAID volume your OS needs a driver.

[Naam]

While on the subject if I did want to install Windows (C:) on the SATA drive how would it boot? Is there a setting in BIOS to - erm! - set? At the moment my BIOS is set to Floppy-HDD-CD.

What about the two hard drives already installed should I then set them both to slave?

if your BIOS does not have the option of selecting an individual drive as boot drive then i have strong doubts that your motherboard has S-ATA channels. of course i could be wrong but please check all the connections on your m-board and the options in your BIOS again.

if you keep your ATA drives no need to change jumpers. they will remain as master and slave. you might have a problem if you don't have the option i stated above. without specifically setting the boot priority to S-ATA your old master drive will boot as "C".

[Daffy D]

I was just reading through the User Guide when I came to this section about SATA. I’m not an expert but always interested in trying “new Innovations” and having read previous posts about SATA thought I would try it with my next hard drive.

My present system drive (C:) came with the original computer and though giving no trouble is over 5 years old plus a clean Windows install is called for so this is the time for a new drive and SATA seems the way to go.

I have not checked the BIOS for a SATA setting; don’t really want to just now having just logged on, but according to the User Guide there are two SATA connections on the MB – or have I got the wrong end of the stick altogether.

TX

D.D.

[Naam]

according to the User Guide there are two SATA connections on the MB – or have I got the wrong end of the stick altogether..

if this is your (ASUS) m-board you are fine Daffy.

[Daffy D]

according to the User Guide there are two SATA connections on the MB – or have I got the wrong end of the stick altogether..

if this is your (ASUS) m-board you are fine Daffy.

Thanks

D.D.