Do I need a SATA driver?

External Since: Jan 05, 2004 Posts: 133

I have an AI7 motherboard and my new Hitachi 80GB SATA drive arrived today.
I have 2 main questions - and maybe some sub-questions Smile

Are the drivers on the AI7 3 1/2" diskette just for RAID, or for SATA too?
In other words, do I need to install the drivers if I'm not using RAID, but
I will (temporarily) use both IDE and SATA drives until I get the stuff
copied from my old IDE drive to the new SATA drive.

My old drive is 46GB, FAT32. It's recognized in Win2000Pro as 46GB (well,
43GB really). The Hitachi site has an installation guide that says W2K can
only see a FAT32 partition with system files up to 32GB, so make sure the
partition with the system files (I take it to mean OS) is less than 32GB.
And, that if I use NTFS, there is no limitation.
My old drive was originally formatted for Win98. I didn't install W2K until
later, but W2K seems to recognize the entire drive.
I use this computer for simple stuff and gaming. Is there a benefit to using
NTFS?
I'm going to try to clone the old HD. Will that work going from FAT32 to
NTFS?
I have a cloning program but can't remember the name of it (it has a yellow
icon, I believe). It's got to be over 3 years old. Can anyone recommend a
new one?
Obviously, if the cloned drive isn't stable, I'll reinstall W2K and do
things the long way, but I've had good luck cloning in the past.
All help is really appreciated. I could do all this by trial and error, but
I'm really anxious to see how this new drive does, and I've got to get the
old one boxed up to send in for replacement.

Gary

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External Since: Nov 18, 2003 Posts: 1219

if you are going to run the SATA channel with the Raid mode enabled and the
raid ROM enabled, regardless of whether you plan to actually create a raid
with the drives, then you need the SATA driver. the channel can also run in
the IDE mode and in that event, my experience is that a SATA drive is not
necessary.

my experience with cloning is that you get an exact copy of what you are
cloning. if the destination drive already has a format or data on it, it
will be overwritten.

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"GTX_SlotCar" <deroy.RemoveThis@maine.rr.com> wrote in message
news:bu9i5i$fdomb$1@ID-153646.news.uni-berlin.de...
> I have an AI7 motherboard and my new Hitachi 80GB SATA drive arrived
today.
> I have 2 main questions - and maybe some sub-questions Smile

>
> Are the drivers on the AI7 3 1/2" diskette just for RAID, or for SATA
too?
> In other words, do I need to install the drivers if I'm not using RAID,
but
> I will (temporarily) use both IDE and SATA drives until I get the stuff
> copied from my old IDE drive to the new SATA drive.
>
> My old drive is 46GB, FAT32. It's recognized in Win2000Pro as 46GB (well,
> 43GB really). The Hitachi site has an installation guide that says W2K can
> only see a FAT32 partition with system files up to 32GB, so make sure the
> partition with the system files (I take it to mean OS) is less than 32GB.
> And, that if I use NTFS, there is no limitation.
> My old drive was originally formatted for Win98. I didn't install W2K
until
> later, but W2K seems to recognize the entire drive.
> I use this computer for simple stuff and gaming. Is there a benefit to
using
> NTFS?
> I'm going to try to clone the old HD. Will that work going from FAT32 to
> NTFS?
> I have a cloning program but can't remember the name of it (it has a
yellow
> icon, I believe). It's got to be over 3 years old. Can anyone recommend a
> new one?
> Obviously, if the cloned drive isn't stable, I'll reinstall W2K and do
> things the long way, but I've had good luck cloning in the past.
> All help is really appreciated. I could do all this by trial and error,
but
> I'm really anxious to see how this new drive does, and I've got to get the
> old one boxed up to send in for replacement.
>
> Gary
>
>
> --
>
> Tweaks & Reviews
<font color=purple> > <a style='text-decoration: underline;' href="http://www.slottweak.com</font" target="_blank">www.slottweak.com</font</a>>
>
>
> ---
> Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.
> Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
> Version: 6.0.561 / Virus Database: 353 - Release Date: 1/13/2004
>
>