I'm having problems when I try to format SATA drive to NTFS, it works
fine with FAT32. I don't need SATA to be the boot partition to install
Windows. I've tried Acronis Disk Utility and Partition Magic but did
not work. My SATA also displayed as SCSI instead of Sata.

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Clarification of Question by worldanh-ga on 19 Nov 2006 09:20 PST

I've updated the lates BIOS, the date for the BIOS is 11/6/06

worldanh...

First, I found this thread on the abit forums that says it's
normal for your SATA drive to show up as SCSI, per Phemo:

"Have a Seagate and a WD SATA and it reports both of those as
 SCSI. As far as I know, it's normal with all SATA controllers
 apart from those which integrate themselves into the BIOS and
 appear as virtual IDE controllers 2 and 3. As far as I know,
 only the nForce3 250 and Intel ICH5/6 controllers do this."
http://forum.abit-usa.com/archive/index.php/t-62599.html


Then I found this thread where someone was having a similar
problem with an SATA. The suggested fix, which worked, was
to boot from the Windows CD:

"When the installer first comes up there's a message that says
 to hit F5 or F6 if you need to install additional drivers...
 do that. Get the drivers for your SATA controller and put them
 on a floppy (you might already have one) according to directions
 and insert that when it says to, and you should be good to go."
http://neowin.net/forum/lofiversion/index.php/t360190.html

Once the drivers are installed, the installer should recognize
your drive and give you the option to format it, and NTFS should
be one of the available options. You should be able to cancel the
Windows installation after the drive is formatted.


Let me know if this works, or if you have any questions or problems...

sublime1-ga


Additional information may be found from an exploration of
the links resulting from the Google searches outlined below.

Searches done, via Google:

"SATA drive showing as SCSI"
://www.google.com/search?q=%22SATA+drive+showing+as+SCSI%22

"format my SATA drive" NTFS
://www.google.com/search?q=%22format+my+SATA+drive%22+NTFS

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Request for Answer Clarification by worldanh-ga on 20 Nov 2006 08:27 PST

I don't have a floppy disk, none of those steps would work. I'm
looking for a slipstream way

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Clarification of Answer by sublime1-ga on 20 Nov 2006 11:15 PST

worldanh...

Elsewhere in the thread, it is noted:

"If you've got no floppy drive, the only way to install Windows
 [or use the format function on the disc] would be to slipstream
 the drivers onto the install disc, as far as I know."

...and...

"Purchase an external floppy drive if you have to. They cost
 around $20 and come in handy when flashing the BIOS and installing
 SATA drivers during Windows installation."
http://neowin.net/forum/lofiversion/index.php/t360190.html

An external floppy would be my choice for a solution, but
if you want to go through the process of creating a slipstream
CD, here's a guide for doing so:
http://unattended.msfn.org/unattended.xp/

sublime1-ga

Make sure you enter the BIOS and set the controller to run in the correct mode.

What motherboard make, and model do you have?

If you just want to format it, just use BootIT NG.

BootIT NG will bypass the need for drivers by communicating with the
controller directly via the BIOS.

I use it for parition work all the time:
http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/bootitng.html

my MB is Asrock 755 VSTA-Dual, I've tried BootIT but doesn't work. In
Bios SATA is detected, but it said it's as IDE, it must be an emulator
for the IDE?

I will look into it see if it works w/ floppy disk. Thanks. You guys are great!