Help upgrading IDE HDD to SATA HDD - [SOLVED]

[monkey0506]

Hey guys...so my mom bought a 320 GB SATA HDD for our computer that she wants me to install...but she doesn't want my stepdad to find out. Our computer is currently running 2 IDE HDDs (80 and 30 GB), so she wants to put the 30 GB drive in my sister's *ancient* computer which only has a 4 GB HDD.

I got everything hooked up...buuuuttt...the computer won't boot. I figured out that it actually won't boot up unless both the 80 GB and 30 GB HDDs are plugged in...does anyone know how I can fix this? I kind of need to get this computer put back together before my stepdad wakes up.....HELP?

Thanks,

monkey

[BOYD1981]

you need to preload some SATA drivers (i know this is the case when installing a new OS because it happened to me), your motherboard should have a floppy disk with them on, if not you'll have to download some and stick them on a floppy.
have you actually installed windows on the disk already, or did you just copy it across from the other pc? the latter probably won't have copied the boot table across, and the former would be why the pc doesn't boot.
you also have to go into the bios and set the SATA as the master drive, and also set the jumper configuration on any other hard drive you'll be keeping in the pc to the slave configuration (or just completely remove the little plastic jumper to set it to default as slave). also, if your sister's pc is ancient it probably has a version of windows that doesn't support NTFS, so if the drive you're going to put in there is NTFS then it won't work.
SATA hard drives are a real pain in the arse, you also won't get the blinking LED when there is hard drive access due to the nature of the SATA connection.

[monkey0506]

...hehh....solved. I was[/am] just scared of my stepdad walking in here right now. I need to leave the 80 GB drive as the primary drive since it is the one with Windows installed and, as I said, my mom (and I) don't want my stepdad to find out.

The problem, as it turned out, was that I forgot to remove the jumper pin. A stupid, silly little mistake on my part. Mostly due to my hardware n00bishness. But I got it figured out and now it seems to be running fine.

As for my sister's computer...the hardware is mostly ancient...hahah...but somehow it's running Windows XP (barely). That's part of the reason my mom wants to add the 30 GB drive to her computer. Anyway...I'd better get this computer put back together and closed back up... :o

Thanks anyway.

[Fee]

That maybe the case if you are running an old sata board, but he shouldnt have to do anything. If the bios detects it, it should work. If the Bios dedtects it and hes got an old Operating system like 98 installed, he may need drivers.

Check you mother board manual. You may not be abel to run SATA and IDE togehter.
Drive jumper settings on the IDE drive if you are trying to run both.
Check the Bios settings for the SATA
Check the BIOS to see what the drives are detected as and weather they are Primary, secondary ect.
Check your Mother Board information. You may have to set the SATA drive to SATA1 insted of SATA2 (slower transfer speed on SATA1)


If you wish to keep your Operating System from the 80gig and boot from that, the 80 gigs settings shouldnt need changing, but it must be the Master or Cabel select and Plugged into IDE channel 0. If you can boot off this without the SATA connected, connect the SATA and try again to see if it works. If it doesnt, change the SATA drives jumper settings so its set to SATA1. Make sure the SATA drive is not set as Master in the BIOS. Also, you might wanna try turning Raid off.


If you want to boot of the SATA drive, set it to master, set the IDE to Master or Cabel select, CDrom to Slave or Cabel select and put them both on IDE chanel 1 with the IDE on the plug on the end of the cable, CD on the center one.
Boot of your Windows CD and run through installation.

Ive only built a few PCs with SATA drives sofar and IMO they are easier to get working than IDE, however geting them to work together can be a pain in the ass.

Fee

[BOYD1981]

i didn't think it was an issue of the bios not detecting it but windows itself, the last time i did a clean install the pc knew the hard drive was there but windows didn't so i had to make a drivers disk as the motherboard (Asus K8V SE Deluxe) didn't come with one. newer editions of windows probably don't have that problem though, i'm running Win2k which i bought in 2004, but i think the disc was printed in 2003 and i think the motherboard was pretty new at the time.
SATA is still a pain in the arse though.

[monkey0506]

Thanks again for the suggestions (both of you)...I'm still working on reinstalling some of my programs...I liked the idea of having my own hard drive to use. That 30 gig was the hard drive that got me started on AGS. And for the last six months or so it's been the collective dumping place for all my files and programs. When I went to switch out the hard drives is when I realized the 80 gig didn't have enough space for me to create a full backup, so the non-essentials that I had the installation files for (Firefox, iTunes, LimeWire, etc.) had to go. Now I've got most of my files back in operational order. And at 10 times the space, I've even got my excess files back into "my hard drive"

P.S. In addition to running two HDDs, we are also running two CD drives (one CD-RW, one CD-ROM). So the CD drives are on their own cable...