Switching to SATA

[commander]

I have just built my first computer based on the ASUS A8V Deluxe Wireless edition motherboard, and the Athlon 64 3500+ processor, Windows XP SP2. Everything is up and running well, very fast, very stable etc. I currently have the OS on a PATA, IDE drive, but I would like to switch to a SATA drive as this board allows for that having both Promise and Via controllers.

I need some guidance as to how I go about this. What I would like to do is to use Acronis True Image to clone my IDE disk to a new SATA drive, then change the BIOS to boot from the new drive, format the old drive to use for backups.

I suspect that it might not be as simple as this though, at what stage for example do I load the SATA drivers? Will a SATA drive cloned from an IDE drive boot up? Is the only way to do this to reload Windows and all the applications?

Given that the motherboard has both Promise and Via controllers, which would people suggest I use?

 

[crjdriver]

Yes, you can do that. I have built about 4 systems using that board. Personally I would prefer the via controller over the promise controller; in reality I dislike all onboard type raid controllers. [It has always been my opinion that if you want raid, use a real raid card] The promise controller is overly complicated in that it requires different drivers depending on whether it is used for raid or ide mode.

If you want to do this, follow this procedure.

1 Make sure your controller you are going to use appears in device manager as working correctly. If you are going to use the promise controller, make sure you select the correct mode in the bios ie either ide or raid.

2 Once you are SURE that the controller of your choice is installed and working, shutdown the system and connect your sata drive. Do not partition or format the new drive. Now boot the system with your drive cloning utility [I use Acronis True Image] Complete the cloning process and shutdown. Remove the original drive. Note VERY important do not reboot the system with both drive connected. Reboot and enter the bios; set the sata drive as the boot device. Save settings and exit. Make sure you can boot your system with the new drive as the only one in the system. Once you are sure of that, you can connect your old drive making sure the jumpers are set correctly. Format the drive and you can use it for storage.

Post back if you have questions.

 

[crjdriver]

BTW be careful removing the sata connectors from the board. I found two boards that the connectors pulled right off from the board. I think they were not installed correctly. Asus makes good boards, however their bios [AMI] is a little flaky at best. When you install or remove drives, it is a good idea to enter the bios and make sure that the correct drive is still id as the boot device.

 

[commander]

Many thanks for the swift, and comprehensive response crjdriver.

When you say "Now boot the system with your drive cloning utility" Does that mean booting from the Acronis CD? I have not used Acronis very much since I got it, except for backup.

Peter
UK

 

[crjdriver]

The acronis app will make a bootable cd for you. It sees sata, raid, usb, scsi drives without any other drivers. In fact when I do an image backup, I use the boot cd; I never install the full program on my system.

 

[crjdriver]

BTW when I purchased acronis, I did it online and received the app via download. If you have the cd, it may be bootable by itself.

 

[commander]

A much delayed post to say thanks for your help with this crj. Delayed because I had to wait for the local omputer Fair to come round to get a good buy, then delayed as we were on a fabulous holiday in the USA, including visiting Nevada as it happens, Vegas Hoover Dam etc. etc.

Anyway just a couple of points which may be of interest. Firstly, as I have Acronis loaded on my hard drive, it was possible to boot up as normal, open Acronis, and clone the disk from within Windows.

Secondly, having disconnected the original drive, when I went into the BIOS to tell it to boot from the new SATA drive, it had already changed the boot order itself, which I thought was pretty smart.

The only problem I had was that as I was using the VIA controller, I thought I had to load the VIA RAID drivers, which confused me a little till I realised that you only need to enable it in the BIOS.

However once I sussed that out, it all came up first time & I do feel I can notice an increase in the speed of the system.

Thanks again for your help.

Regards

Peter
UK

 

[crjdriver]

You are welcome.