Possible to use SCSI as main and SATA as storage?

Lord_Nimbus · November 5th, 2004, 10:44 AM

I have a 17.5 gig SCSI Seagate as my main hd and purchased 2 Western Digital 80gig SATAs to use as my storage. I am basically an amateur computer builder but I orginally thought I could put the new HDDs in there and just simply see them in "My Computer" for excess storage. This of course didnt happen. They are found in the RAID settings but I tried mirror, striping, and span but they dont show up in windows. Whether hooking them up through the sata ports or the raid ports it finds them in either the raid config or the fastbuild. (using an ASUS K8V mb)If I set the array as the primary HDD it prompts for the windows which I didnt think I needed to install on them since I was just using them for storage. If someone out there can straighten me out and load my brain up with some knowledge on this it would be GREATLY appreciated!! Thanks in advance!

-Lord Nimbus aka Someone in need of MUCH help

dr_roberts49 · November 5th, 2004, 01:14 PM

I use my SATA drives as storage. I'm using XP Pro SP2 which has the SATA drivers. All I had to do was set the correct drive configuration in my BIOS on my ABIT mobo.

Robert

Peter M · November 5th, 2004, 01:34 PM

You need to use Disk Manager (from "Manage..." menu). Partition the drives/RAID array and "format" (put a file system on them). Then they'll show up in My Computer.

dr_roberts49 · November 5th, 2004, 01:37 PM

Here's a little more info on my BIOS settings. Depending on your mobo, yours should be about the same. Under integrated peripherals I have a setting called ONCHIP IDE DEVICE. In this setting, I have IDE BUS MASTER enabled and ONCHIP IDE-1 CONTROLLAR enabled. All PIO MODES are set to AUTO. I also have ONCHIP SERIAL ATA set to auto. This disables the RAID setup and allows you to use your SATA drives the same as you use your primary IDE drives.

I have 2 IDE drives which my BIOS identifies as IDE Channel 1 Master and Slave. My 2 SATA drives are identified as IDE Channel 3 and IDE Channel 4. Since I also have a DVDROM and a DVD Burner. XP identifies all my hard drives (My Computer) as Drive C (master) D (slave) G (SATA 3 Master) and H (SATA 4 Master ). My CD drives are E and F. This works for me, and as I said, your mobo BIOS may vary. I hope this helps.

Robert

Lord_Nimbus · November 5th, 2004, 02:11 PM

Ok I installed some new drivers and the VIA RAID tool which they are found in. The two SATA drives are found with no problems in the device manager but I can't find ANYWHERE to actually format the drives and/or put a file system on there. Can't seem to find anything concerning HDDs except for disk cleanup and disk defrag. Once again I'm using Windows XP (HE) but I cant seem to find a "Manage..." area as you said. I think I'm just once step away!

Lord_Nimbus · November 5th, 2004, 02:21 PM

Thanks a lot for your help guys I finally found Disk Management and did as you said and now its working just as I had hoped. Be happy knowing you have done a great deed in helping a fellow human!!! May good luck shine down upon you!!!

dr_roberts49 · November 5th, 2004, 04:14 PM

Glad it's all working for you. Been there myself. That's what is so great about this place. Peter added the part I forgot to mention. In fact, I had that same problem finding the Disk Management option

Robert