How to set up SATA, SCSI, RAID boot drive (workaround)
Hi guys,
I’m posting here because every time I have a problem I tend to look for solutions on the web rather than checking my own notes, so next time I have this problem I’ll be able to find the solution (mine).
Ever had that welcoming blue screen with a well hung 'Setup is starting windows' during OS installation? Probably the SATA drive. Motherboard drivers, supplied with specific instructions to install via the f6 option makes no difference? Perhaps you get past that screen only to find that windows can’t find your hard drive….
Take heart, my friends, there is a solution.
I tried to get Windows Server 2003 to install on my 15k SCSI drive. The computer had a RAID set of four SATA drives (intended for DATA) and a second SCSI drive (intended for PROGRAMS). Windows couldn’t find any of them.
Later, building my brothers computer, I couldn’t get XP to see the SATA boot drive. Eventually, after much hair pulling, it all came back to me – I type this on my happy SCSI/SATA_RAID/SCSI server.
The solution for both is very similar, but on the server I had to connect an IDE drive temporarily. Install the OS onto the IDE drive with or without the other drives connected. Make sure the IDE drive is formatted in the same way that your intended boot drive will be eg NTFS, NTFS version and cluster size eg as set with partition magic.
Once done, all the drivers are installed and the bugs are squished nicely on the HDD platter, use ghost 2003 (I prefer it to 2004 or later) to shift your pristine OS to the intended boot drive and then unplug the IDE drive (Ghost 2003 can see all the drives, earlier versions can still do disk-to-disk ghosting).
If you intend to use the IDE drive in that computer then temporarily remove it until you are sure that all runs well and then reformat it (and take the ‘set active’ off, better still, delete the partition and create a new Extended partition instead).
I did get a frightening blue screen of death on the server when I first started it with the new setup (after ghosting), but it was just the OS refusing to swallow all those changed drives whole. After rebooting, all was forgiven and the computer has been running ever since (18 months), except for a two month break when the motherboard went down in a screaming heap. Gigabyte replaced it (8KNXP-Ultra 64.)
Hope this little tip is of some use to someone (eg me next time I search for a solution to that same old problem
Kind Regards,
Robert Karl Stonjek
Additional Notes:
1) Ghost must be Disc-to-Disc;
2) If the boot drive is smaller than temporary IDE drive, make sure you defrag the IDE drive first, preferably with a defragger that will defrag the space as well as the files eg 'Raxco Perfect Disc V.7';
Hi guys,
I’m posting here because every time I have a problem I tend to look for solutions on the web rather than checking my own notes, so next time I have this problem I’ll be able to find the solution (mine).
Ever had that welcoming blue screen with a well hung 'Setup is starting windows' during OS installation? Probably the SATA drive. Motherboard drivers, supplied with specific instructions to install via the f6 option makes no difference? Perhaps you get past that screen only to find that windows can’t find your hard drive….
Take heart, my friends, there is a solution.
I tried to get Windows Server 2003 to install on my 15k SCSI drive. The computer had a RAID set of four SATA drives (intended for DATA) and a second SCSI drive (intended for PROGRAMS). Windows couldn’t find any of them.
Later, building my brothers computer, I couldn’t get XP to see the SATA boot drive. Eventually, after much hair pulling, it all came back to me – I type this on my happy SCSI/SATA_RAID/SCSI server.
The solution for both is very similar, but on the server I had to connect an IDE drive temporarily. Install the OS onto the IDE drive with or without the other drives connected. Make sure the IDE drive is formatted in the same way that your intended boot drive will be eg NTFS, NTFS version and cluster size eg as set with partition magic.
Once done, all the drivers are installed and the bugs are squished nicely on the HDD platter, use ghost 2003 (I prefer it to 2004 or later) to shift your pristine OS to the intended boot drive and then unplug the IDE drive (Ghost 2003 can see all the drives, earlier versions can still do disk-to-disk ghosting).
If you intend to use the IDE drive in that computer then temporarily remove it until you are sure that all runs well and then reformat it (and take the ‘set active’ off, better still, delete the partition and create a new Extended partition instead).
I did get a frightening blue screen of death on the server when I first started it with the new setup (after ghosting), but it was just the OS refusing to swallow all those changed drives whole. After rebooting, all was forgiven and the computer has been running ever since (18 months), except for a two month break when the motherboard went down in a screaming heap. Gigabyte replaced it (8KNXP-Ultra 64.)
Hope this little tip is of some use to someone (eg me next time I search for a solution to that same old problem
Kind Regards,
Robert Karl Stonjek
Additional Notes:
1) Ghost must be Disc-to-Disc;
2) If the boot drive is smaller than temporary IDE drive, make sure you defrag the IDE drive first, preferably with a defragger that will defrag the space as well as the files eg 'Raxco Perfect Disc V.7';
