How do I get a new HDD to work on SATA5?

[ExPA]

Hi!

I'd like to add a 3rd HDD to the PC I custom-built (using all the great advice I got here!).

I have a Bad Axe 2 motherboard, and SATA 0 through 4 are populated by a DVD-ROM, DVD-RW, and two Seagate Barracuda 7200.10s (not set up in RAID).

I plugged a 3rd Seagate HDD into SATA5 and went into the BIOS but it doesn't offer setting it up as a regular drive, showing only the devices connected to SATA0 thru 4. During bootup it does offer an option to hit Ctrl-M to enter a RAID setup and recognizes the drive on SATA5, but I didn't want to set up a RAID array and only wanted to have a separate 3rd HDD.

I tried to find a comparable thread here but only got as far as arriving at the impression SATA5 and above are only for RAID setups.

Is there a way to set up this 3rd HDD as a separate drive with its own drive letter or do I have to set it up as a RAID array? Doing it as a RAID1 wouldn't be SO bad I guess since my main purpose for this drive is to back up the data I store on HDD #2, but I've taken the admonitions I've heard here to heart that separate HDDs are preferable to RAID arrays.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

ExPA

[minsonngo]

What brand and model is your motherboard?

[ExPA]

Originally Posted by minsonngo What brand and model is your motherboard?

Intel BOXD975XBX2KR LGA 775 Intel 975X ATX (aka the Bad Axe 2)

[minsonngo]

Have you tried another one of your unoccupied SATA ports on the motherboard?

Also go into your BIOS setup... go to "Advanced"... "Drive Configuration"... "Configure SATA as"... and ensure that
RAID is NOT selected.

[ExPA]

Originally Posted by minsonngo Have you tried another one of your unoccupied SATA ports on the motherboard?

Well, SATA0, SATA1, SATA2, and SATA3 are full. SATA4 is that red one which I remember reading somewhere was for setting up an external SATA drive. So should I try plugging into that one, or SATA6 or SATA7 instead of SATA5?

Originally Posted by minsonngo Also go into your BIOS setup... go to "Advanced"... "Drive Configuration"... "Configure SATA as"... and ensure that RAID is NOT selected.

I left it set to Configure SATA as IDE.

[minsonngo]

Originally Posted by ExPA Well, SATA0, SATA1, SATA2, and SATA3 are full. SATA4 is that red one which I remember reading somewhere was for setting up an external SATA drive. So should I try plugging into that one, or SATA6 or SATA7 instead of SATA5? I left it set to Configure SATA as IDE.

Yes... try it in one of the others.

[ExPA]

Originally Posted by minsonngo Yes... try it in one of the others.

Tried it in SATA8 but no change.

Tried unplugging my DVD-RW drive from SATA2 and plugged the new HDD into SATA2. New HDD now shows up and is formatting as I write this.

Plugged the DVD-ROM drive into SATA5 and it does not show up, other than when the Marvell (sp?) RAID thing displays on bootup, as though it is offering to set up the DVD drive as a RAID device.

Also, I checked the Bad Axe 2 manual and haven't found anything which explains why I don't seem to be able to use the higher numbered SATA ports as regular ports.

If anyone has any other ideas, I'd really appreciate it!

Thanks, ExPA

[Ray_S]

I think I might have found your problem for you. The SATA ports you are using now use the intel drivers. The others will need the divers loading for them. You will need to load the Marvell drivers to be able to use the other ports.

Hope that helps

Ray

[XenaWP]

Yep, Ray's got it right. I have that m'board. I haven't set up the Marvell SATA ports, but you have to load those drivers from the floppy that came with the motherboard. There's also a setting in BIOS that you need to have Enabled.

[ExPA]

Originally Posted by Ray_S I think I might have found your problem for you. The SATA ports you are using now use the intel drivers. The others will need the divers loading for them. You will need to load the Marvell drivers to be able to use the other ports. Hope that helps Ray

Originally Posted by XenaWP Yep, Ray's got it right. I have that m'board. I haven't set up the Marvell SATA ports, but you have to load those drivers from the floppy that came with the motherboard. There's also a setting in BIOS that you need to have Enabled.

Thanks folks! I'll give that a shot... though I don't have a floppy drive installed! But I can either rig up a temporary floppy drive, or maybe I can put the drivers on the HD and run them from there?

[XenaWP]

ExPA, I'm 99% sure you can get those Marvell drivers from Intel's web site, so hopefully you can load them that way. They have some great instructions on their site too, which why in god's name they don't include them with the motherboard I'll never know !! I borrowed a floppy from work to load the Intel drivers for the first 4 SATA ports since my FDD was RMA'd.

[ExPA]

Originally Posted by XenaWP ExPA, I'm 99% sure you can get those Marvell drivers from Intel's web site, so hopefully you can load them that way. They have some great instructions on their site too, which why in god's name they don't include them with the motherboard I'll never know !! I borrowed a floppy from work to load the Intel drivers for the first 4 SATA ports since my FDD was RMA'd.

Worked like a charm! Now my system is exactly the way I want it. Thanks very much to all for your help!