104. How Do I Install Windows XP On A SATA Hard Drive

Serial ATA (SATA) drives are the latest in the hard drive fashion and, in theory, installing Windows on the drive should prove relatively simple. The problem is that Windows XP doesn’t contain the necessary drivers to allow windows to see the drive so that Windows can install it.

To load Windows XP onto a SATA drive you need to proceed as follows:

Copy the SATA drivers to a floppy disk. These can usually be found on your pc or motherboard's support disk. Usually these consist of PIDE/SATA Folders and TXTsetup.oem files. Alternatively they may have been supplied on a separate CD that accompanied your SATA drive, assuming you purchased it separately from the pc.
Insert the Windows XP CD (full retail version – you should not need to follow these instructions if your pc came with a recovery disk) into the CD-ROM and Reboot your PC.
Watch carefully as the Windows XP installation progresses and look carefully at the text at the bottom of each screen.
At the Windows Setup Screen (this should be the second screen after installation starts) you should see, at the bottom of the screen, a message saying: “Press F6 if you need to install a third party SCSI or RAID driver.”
At this point press the F6 button.
When the next screen appears press S to specify an additional device.
Now insert the floppy disk containing the SATA drivers into your floppy drive.
Windows will next ask you to select a driver from the provided list.
Select VIA Serial (or whichever controller your motherboard supports) ATA RAID Controller (Windows XP).
The SATA drivers on your floppy disk should now load.
After the drivers have loaded Windows XP will recognise your SATA drive and you can continue installing the Windows XP operating system.