I have an older computer which has a EIDE HDD with very little storage space and my windows xp os. I was wondering if a SATA HDD could be used along with the old EIDE for extra storage? or do i have to use another EIDE? also if i can use SATA, how would i set this up ( i.e. bios settings)?

I thank you for you input and answers ahead of time. You can use the SATA as extra storage...

You would configure the SATA as you normally would...setting the jumpers on the EIDE as Master or Cable Select...

You just have to make sure the Boot Sequence in BIOS is configured to boot from the EIDE which has the OS installed on it.

That should be it...

Give it a shot and post back with your results...The Computer comes on goes through initial tests and tries to run windows but doesn't. It gets to the screen that says that there was a problem and asks if you want to open in safe mode, safe mode w/ networking, safe mode w/ command prompt, last working settings or start windows normally. From here i can choose any of those and it will flash the blue screen of death quickly then reset.

The EIDE hard drive is jumpered as dual master w/ a CD drive on the same ribbon. The seagate SATA drive has a jumper set at it's factory default. Both are setup in the correct boot sequence in BIOS so that the EIDE w/ windows XP is first.

What was the " You would configure the SATA as you normally" implying, because don't normally pickup on most implications? Do you mean installing the raid driver? or setting the jumpers on the SATA drive? Could it be the RAM, do they need to be pulled for awhile them put back in?

If any of the new information can help anyone determine the problem/solution i would be most helpful?

Thanks again ahead of time.


Computer specs : DFI INFINITY NF ULTRAII-M2 AM2 NVIDIA nForce4 Ultra ATX AMD Motherboard
AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000+ Windsor 3.0GHz Socket AM2 PROCESSOR Model ADX6000CZBOX
Omega / Pure Black / 480-Watt / ATX / SATA-Ready / 20/24-Pin / Power Supply
PNY GeForce 8500 GT / 512MB DDR2 / SLI Ready / PCI Express / Dual Link DVI / VGA / HDTV / Video Card
[4GB RAM] 2x US Modular Dual Channel 2048MB PC4200 DDR2 533MHz Memory (2 x 1024MB)
[ The new hard drive] Seagate 500GB Serial ATA HD 7200/16MB/SATA-3G
Finally the old hard drive which is a Western Digital EIDE with 10 GBI just read your specs...and for the life of me can't understand why you'd want to boot from a 10GB EIDE, when you have a 500GB SATA drive...

If you still want to try the configuration you're looking for...I'd test the RAM first to see if any of it is faulty.

I'd then have the EIDE jumpered as Master with its own cable...same goes for the optical drive. The SATA is fine the way it is...just configure your boot settings.

If that doesn't work...I'd TAKE the EIDE out of the equation and follow this guide for setting up XP on a RAID configuration.

Just my opinion...thanks for the advice, i will try that in about 10hrs. and post if it worked. the reason for the old EIDE is that along with the windows xp it also contains some old files, pics, and programs that i just don't want to loose/to lazy to move.Use the SATA drive manuf. utilities to clone the IDE to the SATA drive...these should be on the CD that shipped with the drive.
If not grab them from the manuf. site.
After finishing power down and remove the IDE and re-boot...the BIOS will automatically detect the SATA and boot to it.Thank you, Patio and The Saviour. The advice you gave worked. The computer worked fine Saturday afternoon. I left it on all night while it formated the SATA drive. SUNDAY MORNING it was still on format of the sata finished and my uncle even played solitaire for a few rounds. But around mid day, while it was not in use, it went off. Tried to turn it back on and nothing. No fan runs, no sound made but the click in of the power button. Took the cover off and tried again, nothing. Thought that: the plug-in was loose, power cord contracted a short, power supply became faulty, memory became faulty. I check all those, nothing. Pulled the 4 sticks of ram and tried all the combinations of pairs, by them selves. Then each single one by it self, same thing, nothing.

Now I am thinking the new motherboard died on its own, not but 2 days out of the box. Or the power supply is dead. Has anyone ran across this before? Does anyone know what went bad? Could it be the motherboard, power supply, or could 4 new identical memory sticks go bad all at once?

Thanks again

Josh

P.S. : the specs of the pc are still listed on my previous post dated: sept. 14,07 time: 10:49:14pm.

Thank YouI would borrow a known good PSU of the same or greater wattage and swap it in there and run the machine thru it's paces...if it runs fine then replace the PSU.
If not you could certainly suspect the MBoard.
The odds of 4 sticks of RAM all failing are high indeed but you colud also DLoad and run Memtest to verify this...

p.s Who makes that PSU you have ? ?
Don't scrimp on the new one if it indeed needs replacing.Thank you for the help. The culprit was the power supply. Which saves me from pulling and sending back the motherboard. Everything is running fine now.

Patio , the power supply was made by Omega.

Omega / Pure Black / 480-Watt / ATX / SATA-Ready / 20/24-Pin / Power Supply


Thanks again. Glad to hear you are fixed up with a relatively inexpensive and easy fix...stop by anytime !