I have an 80GB WD IDE HDD that I would like to use as my boot/C: drive (yes I need a big one - many large design/video programs), a 4GB WD IDE HDD for critical file backups, and a 250GB Maxtor SATA HDD that I'd like to use only for storage/My Documents - I do a lot of graphic design and video capturing/editing.
The system came with the 250GB SATA as the only/OS drive, and I know I could partition the 250 GB into C: and D: and use D: for video storage, but I want to maximize data transfer speed from capture/editing applications to disk, and reading/writing from 2 places on 1 physical drive won't do that. Plus, I'd like to keep all 250GB in one partition to simplify my storage filing system.
All the drives are functional in my current config:
Prim SATA 0: 250GB
Prim SATA 1: <NONE>
Prim IDE 0: 80GB
Prim IDE 1: 4GB
Sec IDE 0: 16X DVD+/-RW
Sec IDE 1: 8X DVD+R
The problem: my Dell Dimension 8300 BIOS (v.A07) lists SATA HDDs before IDE in the configuration, and the Boot Sequence is TOO basic to set IDE as first boot - choices are either "BIOS Configuration" or "USB Device".
Question: There is an F12 option at boot to choose the physical drive to boot from , but will this be required at every startup in order to bypass the SATA drive?
It's time to clean off my system and start anew, but I just wanted to know before I start installing WinXP.
Thanks to anyone who can help.
The system came with the 250GB SATA as the only/OS drive, and I know I could partition the 250 GB into C: and D: and use D: for video storage, but I want to maximize data transfer speed from capture/editing applications to disk, and reading/writing from 2 places on 1 physical drive won't do that. Plus, I'd like to keep all 250GB in one partition to simplify my storage filing system.
All the drives are functional in my current config:
Prim SATA 0: 250GB
Prim SATA 1: <NONE>
Prim IDE 0: 80GB
Prim IDE 1: 4GB
Sec IDE 0: 16X DVD+/-RW
Sec IDE 1: 8X DVD+R
The problem: my Dell Dimension 8300 BIOS (v.A07) lists SATA HDDs before IDE in the configuration, and the Boot Sequence is TOO basic to set IDE as first boot - choices are either "BIOS Configuration" or "USB Device".
Question: There is an F12 option at boot to choose the physical drive to boot from , but will this be required at every startup in order to bypass the SATA drive?
It's time to clean off my system and start anew, but I just wanted to know before I start installing WinXP.
Thanks to anyone who can help.