[kevincz]

I have a Dell Dimension 8300 with a 30Gig western digital IDE internal drive with Windows XP SP1. I have about 8Gig free space on my drive. I purchased a 250 western Digital SATA internal hard drive with a Creative I/O SATA RAID controller card. When I tried to upgrade to SP2, I could only boot in safe mode, since I don't know how to trouble shoot to get the XP2 working, I did a restore and went back to XP1. What I would like to do is. disconnect the 60Gig IDE drive. install and clean format windows XP to SP2 the SATA drive. I have a installation disk from Dell for XP2. May questions are. Will Windows have a problem with registration if I install the SATA drive? DO I install the drivers for the SATA controller before removing the IDE drive? After I get the SATA drive working how do I make the IDE drive a backup drive? And lastly, How do I install the SATA drive to begin with?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Kevin Czarnota

 

[Noyb]

Till a real wizard checks in here ... I'm puzzled by the Creative I/O SATA RAID controller.

Doesn't your Mobo have two SATA connectors which should support SATA without adding drivers ????
http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/dim8300/sm/specs.htm#1102292

 

[dustyjay]

When you install WInXP there is near the beginning a message at the bottom of the screen that tells you to press F6 to install drivers for controller cards or raid controllers. This is when you would install the drivers for the the Sata Controller. You would start out with the Drive installed in the case connected to the controller. One problem you may run into is whether your power supply has the power connectors for Sata hard drives. They are different than for IDE Drives. You can find adapters for Sata power cords if you dont. Now the question is is your windows Xp Sp2 disc just the upgrade to SP2 or is it a full install of Win XP SP2? If you just have the system restore disc and an SP2 Upgrade disc this may end up being different.

 

[kevincz]

To Noyb: I don't know if my MoBo has any SATA connectors on it, so I purchased a seperate controller card. How would I know if my MoBo has a SATA connector? if it does, should I use that or the seperate controller card?

 

[kevincz]

To dustyjay:
How can I tell if I only have an upgrade disc or a full install disk?

 

[Noyb]

Since Dell does not give me enough info .. You'll have to look for the SATA ports.
Probably lower right corner ... The manual says you have two ???
Might be a Clue in the BIOS.

I would not use a separate controller card if I didn't have to.
I see no reason to go to a Raid configuration either.

Do you have the Dell Recovery CD/DVDs ???

 

[Noyb]

Also ... I'm pretty sure your WD SATA Hard Drive will accept either a SATA or an ATA power connection.
My WD 250s do.

If you Dell is equipped the handle a SATA HD .. then there will probably be two extra power connectors from the power supply than look like this SATA power connector.

 

[Rich-M]

To dustyjay:
How can I tell if I only have an upgrade disc or a full install disk?

A Dell disk is only full install.

 

[Rich-M]

When you install WInXP there is near the beginning a message at the bottom of the screen that tells you to press F6 to install drivers for controller cards or raid controllers. This is when you would install the drivers for the the Sata Controller. You would start out with the Drive installed in the case connected to the controller. One problem you may run into is whether your power supply has the power connectors for Sata hard drives. They are different than for IDE Drives. You can find adapters for Sata power cords if you dont. Now the question is is your windows Xp Sp2 disc just the upgrade to SP2 or is it a full install of Win XP SP2? If you just have the system restore disc and an SP2 Upgrade disc this may end up being different.

On a Dell you should not need to insert sata drivers....my only concern with using the ide drives for backup is to be certain bios enables sata drive, the booting drive is clearly the correct drive in boot order in bios and the ide drives are bot slave which means they cannot be on the same cable as each other.

 

[kevincz]

thanks so much for all the information. The only concern I have before trying the install is, Will Windows XP need some kind of authorization key to install?

 

[Noyb]

There's a sticker somewhere on you Dell that has the XP product code.
If you're using the Dell Recovery CD/DVDs .. I don't think you'll need it.

 

[Rich-M]

thanks so much for all the information. The only concern I have before trying the install is, Will Windows XP need some kind of authorization key to install?

While there is a coa on the side of the pc, you should not need to put the number in during the install.

 

[kevincz]

thanks for everyones help. I certainly learned alot. Everything is up and working fine. I did discover my video card was the problem with upgrading to XP SP2. so I got a new video card