GA-8KNXP (rev. 2) Two SATA Drive Setup, Without Raid?

offender_mullet

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I just got two Maxtor SATA drives. The manual is a bit confusing and I couldn't find any topics about it on here.

I have a couple questions and if anyone can answer them, I'd greatly appreciate it.

1.) I'd like to setup both SATA drives on the Intel chip (not the silicon one) just as normal drives, without any raid function. Exactly how do you do that?

2.) When installing Windows XP, it'll ask for that raid driver, right? Do I still need to install that, even though I'm not using a raid function?
 

smeghead4269

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1) Somewhere in the BIOS (probably under "Integrated Peripherals" or something like that) there should be an option that says "SATA RAID." Disable that.

2) No.
 

smeghead4269

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I'm assuming the GigaRAID stuff is for the onboard IDE RAID controller, so yes. It's probably not necessary to do so, but if you're not using it, you might as well disable it.
 

offender_mullet

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This is odd.....

When I click on 'My Computer' in Windows XP, it's not detecting my other sata hard drive.....but it picks it up in the bios. Any suggestions?

*****update*****Looks like I jumped the gun on this post. Installed the MaxBlast software and it formatted the slave sata drive. :D
 

offender_mullet

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Sorry for the double-post. 1 quick question about the memory I'm running.

I have two (total of 2GB) of the Corsair TWINX1024-3200C2PT DDR-400 1GB Dual Channel Kits, which is suppose to run at 2-3-3-6, but it's at 3-3-3-8. How exactly do you change it in the bios? Thanks again guys. :wink:
 

dfink10

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Hello,

I'm I was hoping you could help. I currently have a SATA drive set up as my boot drive with windows XP installed. I'm trying to add a second SATA drive not in a Raid configuration.

I remember when I installed the first SATA it was a bit difficult - to say the least. Now I'm trying to add the second and it seems to be just as hard.

Can you tell me how you have your BIOS set up and what SATA ports you have your HDs plugged into. I would greatly appreciate it - I'm stuck "again" on this one.

Thanks
 

Jizumonkey

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I can help you out with this one as I've just finished querying the guys at gigabyte with my questions about single sataI drives on this mobo - The same would apply for two drives. Also note: this is for a Maxtor DiamondMAX 9 drive that does not have NCQ ability. The DiamondMAX 10 series of sataI and all sataII drives it seems DO have it...so set options accordingly.

My questions start at the bottom and read up btw!

Answer : Hi,

If this is a brand new system we recommend please have a fresh Operating System installed. Used the default value for the SATA Port0-3 Native Mode.
Question - 409207

Question : Two final questions if I may then please:

Do you recommend that I reinstall XP after I change that option to IDE?

What should sata 'port0-3 native mode' be now?

Thanks for your help.
Answer - 409192
Answer : Hi,

Please set the Onboard SATA/IDE Ctrl Mode to IDE. You do not have to install any SATA drivers for single HDD.
Question - 409192

Question : Thanks for the reply. What if my SATA1 drive does not support NCQ/AHCI? Can you tell me what settings I should have in the BIOS, which port to use and which drivers to install as I am noticing stuttering in loading where I never used to have it...maybe enabling the AHCI mode is bad when the drive does not support it?

Thanks again.
Answer - 408742
Answer : Hi,

To activate the NCQ /AHCI (make sure your all HDD are the SATAII or support NCQ function):

1. Please set the SATA mode to the AHCI (refer to manual page 40).

2. Please reload Win XP with SATA/AHCI driver (refer to manual page77~79).

3. After win XP re-installed, please install the Intel Matrix Storage Manager from the driver CD.
Question - 408742

Question : Please could you confirm for me the optimum settings in the bios for a SINGLE sataI (not sataII and not raid) drive. I have put the sata lead to the orange connector port 0, set sata 'port0-3 native mode' option to enabled and set 'onboard sata/ide ctrl mode' option to AHCI, but am not sure what this is for. Does this provide the fastest settings for the drive please as I have noticed that perhaps my drive is not performing as quickly as i thought it may. Originally I had the 'onboard sata/ide ctrl mode' option set to IDE but read that that was wrong. Someone on the internet also wrote that the purple ports were faster? is this true? Many thanks for your help.


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Model Name : GA-965P-DS3
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M/B Rev : 1.0
BIOS Ver : 7F
 

kromley

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I tried this solution to use two SATA drives as a normal two drive setup... where there is no RAID relationship. Changing the BIOS setting to disable RAID caused the system to fail to boot. Note the first drive has been set up with windows xp installed. The install asked for a VIA SATA driver at the beginning of the install proceedure. What other setting will allow me to use the two SATA drives (they are not of the same manufacturer or capacity)