Ok i got a new SATA hard drive today and I was wondering how to go around setting it up. It is going to be the only HDD, its a Maxtor 100gb. And its going to be on a PCI controller since the motherboard doesnt have a SATA connector. I guess im wondering since nothing is on the primary IDE connector, will the computer not recognize the HDD or is there a special driver to install or will it recognize it right away without windows installed? The only other drives connected are a 250mb zip drive and a DVD drive on the same cable in the secondary IDE connector. Will they work there or will they have to go on the primary IDE connector, and if they do, will the HDD not boot because it is looking at the drives there as HDDs?

Obviously, ive never done SATA before, and I kinda wanted some advice before I go screw up a brand new drive. Thanks.

-Nick

during system setup, go into your bios screen or boot-up screen. usually, its hitting "F3" during bootup would take you there.

Changing your boot-up sequence and where the HD and other devices are located would prevent any probs.

hope that helps

Ok so I got the card today, and the drive installed. The card came with some instructions, but there was one other thing I need to know. Since I mentioned earlier that there was nothing connected to the primary IDE connector, hence no HDD there, when I go into the bios, would I have to set the boot order to see the drive as SCSI or just C:? Is C: for IDE only or will it still see the drive on the card? The reason I asked this is because it said during the setup before windows is installed, that I am supposed to select the option to install a 3rd party SCSI or other driver. I was planning on putting an IDE drive in so I wouldnt have to go thru this, but a brand new 100gb HDD for $40 is not to be passed up. BTW this is going to be a fresh install.

Thanks for any help!

-Nick

SATA is not SCSI. You don't need to load special drivers for SATA. The best way to find out is to go into the BIOS and see what you find. Check to see if the new hard drive is recognized, and check to see what the boot order is.