How to add esata

[pageblair]

Hey guys, how do you add esata to xp sp1. the mobo(gigabyte 875/865/848p) is sata ready and i have the mobo drivers disc.
thanks

greatvalues@optonline.net

 

[bilbat]

I'll order up a spare drive & do some testing; I believe that all you need do is select AHCI in the BIOS, and then load the corresponding driver during the install, and that's it. My case has an eSATA port, & I did surgery on the eSATA bracket that was included to slice out the eSATA power port (which is really just a molex w/some mounting screws) to one of my blank drive plates in front, but I haven't yet had the occasion to try it out; I have got all four OSs, so I should be able to test in each. If you didn't install the driver(s) during the OS install, I know that's a problem, but it IS a soluble one - I'll try to do a search later today to find a good, clearly explained procedure for it...

 

[jsc]

I bought a USB/eSATA external drive housing for a laptop SATA drive. It came with an eSATA bracket and eSATA cable. All I had to do was install a standard SATA cable between a motherboard SATA connector and the back of the external bracket. No drivers needed.

It does, however, need the USB cable for power. But it's a lot faster than USB.

 

[evongugg]

Set your sata to AHCI mode if you want it to support hot swap.
It has to be hot swappable for the OS to detect it automatically like a USB device.
Otherwise you can reboot to get it detected.

 

[evongugg]

How to enable AHCI : Windows XP

http://expertester.wordpress.com/2008/07/27/how-to-enable-ahci-windows-xp/