Windows XP Install Unable To See Drive

Do you have other Sata drives in your system or is the first one attached? What mobo do you have with what controller?

If you are installing WinXP to this new drive you will need to hit "f6" during the first stage of install. Later the setup program will prompt you to insert the SATA Driver diskette that came with your motherboard.

If you add this drive to an installed system, you will need to create a partition before windows will show it through explorer (MyComputer).
To do this right click "MyComputer" then click "Manage" then click "Disk Management". In the lower right, locate the new device, right click on it, then select "Create Partition". After creating the partition you should format it, as you will not be able to use it till it has a file system on it.

It appears you have an SATA I controller, and your drive is SATA II. You should make sure your jumpers are set correctly to SATA I speed.

From Maxtor's site:
E. New Windows 2000 or XP System or Replacing a Failed 2000 or XP Boot Drive
Before you begin. The SATA host driver for motherboards with embedded SATA controllers, or non Maxtor branded SATA
hosts, are typically contained on an installation CD that is included with the motherboard or add-in controller. The SATA host
drivers must first be extracted to a floppy disk before installing the operating system. Drivers for Maxtor-branded SATA cards
can be downloaded from the Worldwide Support section at www.maxtor.com or extracted to floppy from the bootable
MaxBlast CD. Boot your system from the MaxBlast CD.
1.
Boot your system from your Windows installation CD. If you have trouble booting to the Windows XP CD,
see Maxtor Knowledge Base Article #855 at www.maxtor.com.
2.
When prompted by the Windows installer to install a third-party SCSI or RAID driver, press the F6 key
then S when prompted, to specify additional devices.
3.
Insert the SATA driver floppy and press Enter.
4.
Follow the on-screen prompts to finish installing Windows, then continue to “Set the Boot Sequence (New
boot drive only)” on page 15.

Hi PCcashCow,

Yer I have one other one as a secondary, I have tired installing Windows with just the 300GB drive on its own.

I have a MSI 915p Neo Platinum 2, I don't no what sort of controller it has sorry.

Alex

Cheers Alyarbank!

I will give it a go and let you guys know how I get on  
Cheers for the quick response all!      

Alex

Good luck