newbie here, have a simple SATA question...

kduveykduvey san diego
edited April 2005 in Hardware
im going to be building my first system in a few weeks...and an slightly confussed about SATA. im going to be useing a DFI lan party UT nf3 250gb mobo ( http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=13-136-147&depa=1 ). my plan is to have the OS and major aplications be installed on a wd raptor, and files stored on a bigger 7200 rpm hard drive.
the problem is, i dont know how to set up SATA drives (raptors only come is SATA)...or if you even have too. i know IDE is very easy...you just plug them in on the same cable, with master and slave setting, and the rest is automatic...is it the same for SATA? the mobo im getting has 4 SATA connectors...should i also get SATA optical drives? also, the mobo has 2 differint kind of SATA ports...2 of each ( SATA/RAID: 2x SATA RAID with NVIDIA RAID 0,1,0+1,JBOD, 2x SATA by Marvell SATA PHY) whats the diff? and what should i plug into what? i asume my hard drives will go into the raid and set at JBOD right? (and if so, how would i do that?) and the dvd rw and dvd rom will go into the other two..right? as you can see, im very confused... :scratch:

my main question is, how do you set it up? is there a very detailed guide on the internet you can link me too? (im as newbish as they come... ;D )

also, what is the bennifet of having SATA over IDE? just alittle faster?

thanks a bunch

Comments

  • Mt_GoatMt_Goat Head Cheezy Knob Pflugerville (north of Austin) Icrontian
    edited April 2005
    SATA is easier as there is only one drive per cable so you don't need to worry about 'slave' and 'master'. I would recomend making the storage drive SATA as well. Then when you install Windows you need to hit the 'F6' key at the beginning of the setup when asked and insert the floppy that comes w/ the board for the drivers when prompted to do so. That is all there is to it. I would keep the optical drives on the IDE and put all SATA drives on the SATA headers.
  • TexTex Dallas/Ft. Worth
    edited April 2005
    kduvey wrote:
    ;D )

    also, what is the bennifet of having SATA over IDE? just alittle faster?

    thanks a bunch

    No advantage really in the interface except the cables are smaller. There is no real speed advantage betwen identical drives in IDE and SATA today for the most part.

    But the Raptors are faster. They don't come in a ide version.

    But all the drives available in both versions usually perform very close to identical now. When SATA first came out they were actually usualy slightly slower because they were basicaly the same ide drive with another layer of sata converter tacked on top.

    Tex
  • kduveykduvey san diego
    edited April 2005
    would i have to use RAID with 2 SATA drives? or can i just have them as seperate drives like you can with IDE?
  • TexTex Dallas/Ft. Worth
    edited April 2005
    no 2 drives works
  • kduveykduvey san diego
    edited April 2005
    o ok cool. and all i have to do is press F6 at the very begining of windows installation and put the floppy drive in that came with the mobo?...or is that just for RAID?
  • MediaManMediaMan Powered by loose parts.
    edited April 2005
    kduvey,

    No worries on your questions. Many have them the first time they use SATA drives.

    Step 1: If your motherboard has two sets of SATA headers then make the choice as to which header the drives are being placed on. EG: One set of headers may be controlled by the SIxxxx chip and the other by a different chipset maker.

    The choice is really up to you. But you may want to ask/research if others prefer one over the other.

    Step 2: Once you've decided which header chipset then go to that manufacturer's website and download the latest drivers. Else download them from the motherboard maker's website. Usually the manufacturer's may be more current.

    Extract that .zip or .exe file on a working computer. In that extracted folder will be a folder that contains the setup floppy drivers or a folder marked MAKEDISK.

    You'll either insert a blank floppy and choose the makedisk file to write the needed setup files to the floppy or drag the setup folders within that folder to the floppy. This is the disk you insert after pressing F6 during the initial setup phase.

    Step 3: Yup...you go into the RAID BIOS when the motherboard first boots to set up your RAID array...You can make the choice of RAID 0, RAID 0+1 RAID 1 or JBOD. (Just a buncha disks). If you want to have each drive as a single drive...no raid and the system doesn't have a JBOD setting...don't worry about it...just proceed with the installation.

    Step 4. Make sure the WINXP installation disk is in the drive and you've got that floppy handy. Press F6 when the setup says to...right at the beginning and then insert the floppy when it asks you to do so.

    You'll be presented with a few choices as to what drivers to use. The choice will be obvious as it pertains to what OS you are installing.

    That disk will be needed again so just leave it in the drive until the setup tells you to remove it.

    The WINXP installation will continue as per normal from that point on. When the OS is installed you can then insert your motherboard driver cd and install all the necessary motherboard and chipset drivers just like any other system.



    Lastly.

    Sometimes SATA installation goes really easy. Sometimes it does not. For the most part it's no problem...but if you do encounter difficulties then don't worry. You haven't broken anything and you may have to RTFM again or read the readme file in the sata driver package.

    If you are setting up a RAID array then you may get it perfect the first time...or you may take a couple of cracks at it. It's all part of the learning process.

    If you do run into any problems that stump you....that's why we are here. :)
  • kduveykduvey san diego
    edited April 2005
    o wow, thanks a bunch!
    so do you think its worth it? all for a little faster boot up?
  • MediaManMediaMan Powered by loose parts.
    edited April 2005
    Depends what your goals are. RAID 0 does give a bit of a "smoother" desktop feel but there is the very low risk of breaking a stripe and losing your data.

    RAID 0+1 would provide for a mirror to your main drives...thus data integrity.

    EIDE drives are still very common but the SATA are gaining ground.

    I myself am thinking of going for 4 x 120 GB SATA as RAID 0. I'd then install a PATA or another SATA drive as a single. I have an automatic backup program that will backup my important partitions and folders every few hours so I can keep the speed of RAID 0 but still have data integrity.

    Drives are cheap these days. Doesn't hurt having a drive that you backup data to as a spare.
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