I just ordered an XPS 410 with Vista 32-bit and a single SATA hard drive
from Dell. I wanted two physical hard drives (not RAID) but was told that
they could not install a second drive. The lady told me I could add it
myself. (I can't believe Dell has fallen this far!).



Anyway, I ordered a Seagate SATA drive and will install it when the system
arrives. I have installed IDE drives in the past but this will be my first
experience with SATA. Is the procedure much different from IDE? Are there
any "gotchas" I should be on the lookout for?



If I decide to install Vista 64-bit later, will I need x64 drivers or will
the SATA drives be automatically recognized?



Sorry if this post sounds dumb but SATA is a new animal to me.

SATA is nearly the same. Automatically recognized in the BIOS, etc. Just a
dfferent power & interface cable. You may need SATA drivers for Windows,
though.

--
Dustin Harper
[email]dharper@vistarip.com[/email]
[url]http://www.vistarip.com[/url]

--
"PapaJack" <papajack55@fastmail.fm> wrote in message
news:%23rkjle7WHHA.996@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...[color=blue]
>I just ordered an XPS 410 with Vista 32-bit and a single SATA hard drive
>from Dell. I wanted two physical hard drives (not RAID) but was told that
>they could not install a second drive. The lady told me I could add it
>myself. (I can't believe Dell has fallen this far!).
>
>
>
> Anyway, I ordered a Seagate SATA drive and will install it when the system
> arrives. I have installed IDE drives in the past but this will be my first
> experience with SATA. Is the procedure much different from IDE? Are there
> any "gotchas" I should be on the lookout for?
>
>
>
> If I decide to install Vista 64-bit later, will I need x64 drivers or will
> the SATA drives be automatically recognized?
>
>
>
> Sorry if this post sounds dumb but SATA is a new animal to me.
>
>[/color]

Thank you. That's what I suspected but wanted to check.

"Dustin Harper" <dharper@vistarip.com> wrote in message
news:uIJpI57WHHA.4844@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...[color=blue]
> SATA is nearly the same. Automatically recognized in the BIOS, etc. Just a
> dfferent power & interface cable. You may need SATA drivers for Windows,
> though.
>
> --
> Dustin Harper
> [email]dharper@vistarip.com[/email]
> [url]http://www.vistarip.com[/url]
>
> --
> "PapaJack" <papajack55@fastmail.fm> wrote in message
> news:%23rkjle7WHHA.996@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...[color=green]
>>I just ordered an XPS 410 with Vista 32-bit and a single SATA hard drive
>>from Dell. I wanted two physical hard drives (not RAID) but was told that
>>they could not install a second drive. The lady told me I could add it
>>myself. (I can't believe Dell has fallen this far!).
>>
>>
>>
>> Anyway, I ordered a Seagate SATA drive and will install it when the
>> system arrives. I have installed IDE drives in the past but this will be
>> my first experience with SATA. Is the procedure much different from IDE?
>> Are there any "gotchas" I should be on the lookout for?
>>
>>
>>
>> If I decide to install Vista 64-bit later, will I need x64 drivers or
>> will the SATA drives be automatically recognized?
>>
>>
>>
>> Sorry if this post sounds dumb but SATA is a new animal to me.
>>
>>[/color]
>[/color]

The computer comes with a SATA drive already installed so the drivers will
be there when he opens the box.

--


Regards,

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User
(For email, remove the obvious from my address)

Quote from George Ankner:
If you knew as much as you think you know,
You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!

"Dustin Harper" <dharper@vistarip.com> wrote in message
news:uIJpI57WHHA.4844@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...[color=blue]
> SATA is nearly the same. Automatically recognized in the BIOS, etc. Just a
> dfferent power & interface cable. You may need SATA drivers for Windows,
> though.
>
> --
> Dustin Harper
> [email]dharper@vistarip.com[/email]
> [url]http://www.vistarip.com[/url]
>
> --
> "PapaJack" <papajack55@fastmail.fm> wrote in message
> news:%23rkjle7WHHA.996@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...[color=green]
>>I just ordered an XPS 410 with Vista 32-bit and a single SATA hard drive
>>from Dell. I wanted two physical hard drives (not RAID) but was told that
>>they could not install a second drive. The lady told me I could add it
>>myself. (I can't believe Dell has fallen this far!).
>>
>>
>>
>> Anyway, I ordered a Seagate SATA drive and will install it when the
>> system arrives. I have installed IDE drives in the past but this will be
>> my first experience with SATA. Is the procedure much different from IDE?
>> Are there any "gotchas" I should be on the lookout for?
>>
>>
>>
>> If I decide to install Vista 64-bit later, will I need x64 drivers or
>> will the SATA drives be automatically recognized?
>>
>>
>>
>> Sorry if this post sounds dumb but SATA is a new animal to me.
>>
>>[/color]
>[/color]

Installed Seagate 300 gig 2nd SATA drive here.. Just plugged it in, and it
worked.

I reformatted it in Windows, but otherwise, it seems to be recognized. No
special drivers needed.

Dan
Sudbury