Problems Using Windows On Sata Hard Drive

I just got my hands on a SATA hard drive last week and decided to install it on my desktop. Currently, it's using an IDE type hard drive. I installed Windows XP Pro on this new SATA drive with no problems. So I go about my usual business to create a Ghost image for it. I installed Ghost and ran the backup feature. It restarted and then froze at the Ghost page in DOS mode. It see the blue background and a big gray box in front. But no text or progress meter as it should have.So I just hit Ctrl+Alt+Del and the same thing occurs. I chose to exit Ghost and use Windows. It said something about not having my first partition active (which I doubt since it was a clean install and Windows did work before). I chose yes to make it active and can't boot up to Windows since then. It just shows verifying dmi pool data and nothing else happens.Is there any SATA drivers that I need to install before the Windows setup shows up? I only see an option for SCSI Adapter drivers when I boot from the XP CD.Thanks.

OK, I finally got my hands on the SATA drivers from the CD. I just copied the necessary drivers so they fit on a floppy diskette. Now I face another issue. I was trying to do this using a USB floppy drive because this desktop does not have a floppy drive installed.I have tried to install a floppy drive earlier but found out that it doesn't have the floppy drive IDE port on the motherboard.When I boot from the Windows XP CD, I press F6 to install the drivers. But then it asks me to insert the floppy diskette containing the SATA drivers. So using the CD that the motherboard came with won't work. It's specifically asking to insert disk into A: drive.Is there any way around it or make the USB floppy drive work at least? I know it's bootable at least because I tested it with a Windows 98 bootdisk and it DOES read the floppy diskette.

Ya, Windows has this really odd deal about not including SATA drivers into its operating system. This is where Windows Vista comes in, it includes the SATA drivers.Try to get an IDE floppy drive, they are cheap now-a-days.Too bad they never put boot sectors into USB keys.xboxrulz

I actually got my hand on a IDE floppy drive but the problem is that the motherboard doesn't have a connector for it. You know where the older motherboards that supported floppy drives have like 3 ports (2 for hard drive and CDROM drives and one for floppy drive). The floppy drive connector has less pins thus it's a shorter cable and won't fit properly ;)Any chance I DON'T need to install the SATA drivers? I mean, the first time I installed Windows XP on it, it installed fine. One would think that it shouldn't even detect the SATA drive if the drivers weren't already on the board...no? The first time I installed it I didn't even think about loading the drivers (thought it was like IDE)...until I restarted and that's when hell broke loose (won't boot up anymore).Thanks.

XP should recognize a USB external cdrom or floppy. Maybe something in the BIOS? as i've booted and installed drivers though an external device.

Try make a custom windowsXP cd using nlite (http://forums.xisto.com/no_longer_exists/), it can add drivers to the installer, it even can make a complete unattended install without installing useless stuff (eg. msn explorer, windows messenger, ...).

I just got my hands on a SATA hard drive last week and decided to install it on my desktop. Currently, it's using an IDE type hard drive. I installed Windows XP Pro on this new SATA drive with no problems. So I go about my usual business to create a Ghost image for it. I installed Ghost and ran the backup feature. It restarted and then froze at the Ghost page in DOS mode. It see the blue background and a big gray box in front. But no text or progress meter as it should have. So don't mess the windows installation with any drivers now.

 

So I just hit Ctrl+Alt+Del and the same thing occurs. I chose to exit Ghost and use Windows. It said something about not having my first partition active (which I doubt since it was a clean install and Windows did work before). I chose yes to make it active and can't boot up to Windows since then. It just shows verifying dmi pool data and nothing else happens.

There is no problem with your SATA hard drive. Windows XP has the generic default drivers for the SATA drives. So the reason for your problem was not the SATA Drive but the Ghost.

 

Based on what you've said,

... I installed Windows XP Pro on this new SATA drive with no problems. So I go about my usual business to create a Ghost image for it. I installed Ghost and ran the backup feature. It restarted and then froze at the Ghost page in DOS mode. It see the blue background and a big gray box in front. But no text or progress meter as it should have ...

the Ghost has replaced the files in the MBR ( Master Boot Record) with its own files, and when you restarted the system, it should have completed the process and then restored the MBR back to the original. But since the Ghost failed during the startup those files weren't replaced, so you are not able to boot into your Windows Partition.

 

All you've gotta do is to restore or reset the MBR. You should be very careful doing this or else your system will be completely inaccessible without reinstalling the OS.

Edited February 26, 2007 by livingston (see edit history)

There is no problem with your SATA hard drive. Windows XP has the generic default drivers for the SATA drives. So the reason for your problem was not the SATA Drive but the Ghost.

 

Based on what you've said,

 

the Ghost has replaced the files in the MBR ( Master Boot Record) with its own files, and when you restarted the system, it should have completed the process and then restored the MBR back to the original. But since the Ghost failed during the startup those files weren't replaced, so you are not able to boot into your Windows Partition.

 

All you've gotta do is to restore or reset the MBR. You should be very careful doing this or else your system will be completely inaccessible without reinstalling the OS.

The most easy way to fix the windows mbr is using the windows recovery (fixmbr), but then he'll need the driver disk too.

Something people should know is that microsoft isn't to blame for not supporting SATA by default, when windowsXP came out, SATA was nothing like it is now.

Heard of nlite before in the past but never got a chance to test it out personally. I might have to give it a try if this still fails.I'll try repairing the master boot record. I didn't know that Ghost will go so far as to mess within that area as well.Thanks.

You need the drivers, and "modern" motherboards do have floppy extensions, I still see them in 939/LGA-775 boards.Goodluck,xboxrulzP.S: u should really try nLite, it'll save ur life!

Yeah, I know new motherboards have the floppy drive connector also. I'm just saying that in my case, the board I have doesn't have it...phasing it out sooner than I thought LOL.I'll give nlite a test drive. Just don't have enough time in the day to do this lately

Finally, I'm finished with it. I had to reinstall Windows XP again. In the Ghost options, I went under the SCSI Drivers tab and checked all four boxes (also tried auto-detect but it said that no SCSI drivers were needed). I restarted and saw that dreaded Ghost screen that froze again. I've had it and was just about to scrap the whole idea of using SATA, but decided to play the waiting game. After like 2-3 minutes, it finally began creating the image. Don't know why it took so long, but glad it worked. My laptop doesn't even take this long to start the imaging process...usually starts immediately when I see the Ghost screen.Thanks for everyone's input.