Can I set my new computer boot from SATA HD?

[jet88]

just build a new machine with this MOBO:
ECS 755-A2 v1.0 ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
and 250GB SATA from samsung, I have an old ATA 80GB western digital HD, how do I set my machine to boot from SATA and install winxp on this driver, but still can use my old ATA HD?

thanks

[Davermonk]

My reply probably won't help you too much, but I went through a similar thing after I rebuilt my new computer. My original plan was to reinstall the "old" (non-SATA) hard drive and get the computer up and running, and then add in the new (SATA) hard drive.

After many questions on several boards, the consensus was that it would be a nightmare to try to get a new system to boot an "old" hard drive with existing WinXP.

The WinXP is set up for your old system (registry, drivers, etc). You could try to install the old hard drive and use the WinXP CD to "repair" windows to work with the new system but you might end up with a less-than-efficient operating system - if it worked at all.

If you want to try this, you'll need to go into bios to make your optical drive (CD or DVD) the primary drive - and make sure the Windows CD is in that drive. It should boot to the windows set-up and you can try the "repair" option.

However, if you have your old WinXP CD, I would reccomend hooking up the new SATA hard drive (and only that one) and then installing a fresh version of WinXP onto it. This way, you know that your new machine is running as efficiently as possible and you have all the drivers you need for the new machine.

After you install Windoze and get all of the patches & service packs working, you can hook up your 2nd (ATA) hard drive and grab the data from it. Just make sure that Bios knows to boot from your primary (SATA) hard drive.

If you don't have your original WinXP CD (or if your original system came with WinXP preinstalled - such as a Dell), you're probably not going to get it to work with the new system. I think I remember reading that those CDs won't let you reinstall windows onto a new machine (because you paid for the machine - not for the operating system).

In that case, you are probably going to be stuck purchasing WinXP again.

Good luck!!

[Panama Red]

When you say "use my old ATA HD", do you mean use it for storage and access to existing files? If so, disconnect the old drive from the pc. Connect the SATA drive, boot to bios and make sure it is properly recognized and it is listed in the Boot Priority. Load your operating system on the SATA drive. It looks like your mobo has a native SATA controller (built in) so you shouldn't have to press F6 to load any drivers. I believe it will load the OS just like with your old drive. After the OS is loaded on the new drive, shut down the system and reconnect the old drive, again check the bios to make sure the SATA is selected as the boot drive.