Windows XP install on SATA HDD

[SDNSilver]

Hey guys. I have a quick question about installing XP Pro on a Dell desktop that I have with a SATA hard drive.

Apparently I am supposed to find some SATA drivers, install those to a floppy, and point the Windows install to that floppy when starting the install. The only problem with that is, I haven't had a floppy drive for years, so that isn't an option for me.

How can I get around this??

Thanks everyone

[DeaconFrost]

It depends on the controller and how you have the BIOS configured. I've only really used Intel chipsets, and then they are set to standard IDE-mode, meaning not AHCI or not RAID, you don't need to load any special drivers, aside from the Intel Chipset drivers once Windows is installed.

[Grimmda]

In your case I'd say go buy a cheap $20 USB based floppy drive. THEN you can run in native mode which performance wise is better. There's a thread in here somewhere that discusses the benefits of doing so. If you're lazy then DeaconFrost's method is suffecient but know that is a reduced performance mode...

Vista gets around this by providing support for USB Thumb drives to have the drivers on and load while installing if the default ones don't work (which often times they will).

Or you can do like I did back in the day when I had dual SATA drives in a RAID: plugged a floppy drive into the board only when I needed to point to those drivers. WHen I was done, I unplugged it and tucked the wires away.

[Azhar]

Just use vLite to integrate a SATA driver into your XP CD (of course you'll be asked to burn another XP CD). That way your XP installation will detect your controller.

[DeaconFrost]

If you're lazy then DeaconFrost's method is suffecient but know that is a reduced performance mode...
I've seen this discussed in the storage forum, and no one seems to be able to show better performance with AHCI. I've been wondering, because CDBurnerXP doesn't work with SATA burners on AHCI controllers. As far as I can tell from those discussions, you lose no performance, just the ability to hot swap, which is not something I'd be doing anyway. I'd love to find a definitive answer though.

[GushpinBob]

Just use vLite to integrate a SATA driver into your XP CD (of course you'll be asked to burn another XP CD). That way your XP installation will detect your controller.

Just a minor correction that you use nlite for integrating your SATA driver. Vlite is for Vista.

[Azhar]

I knew that :p

[Demon10000]

Regardless of performance --

If you wanted AHCI mode enabled and you don't have a floppy drive, just install using IDE mode. Once you have windows up and running, install the drivers for your SATA controller, reboot and flip it over to AHCI and you should be good to go.

[DeaconFrost]

I'm thinking that would result in a BSoD in XP. I'd have more hope for Vista handling it, but I can't say I've tried this before.

[Azhar]

I've BSOD'd with AHCI in XP prior to installing Vista myself. *untangles tongue*

[Impulse]

Just slipstream the drivers using nLite, it's a piece of cake and it'll just save you time in the long run whenever you have to re-install the OS for whatever reason... You'll definitely wish you had done it if you ever end up doing multiple re-installs, heh.