Does WinXP SP2 add support for SATA? If not, then why not? After all SATA has been around for a while now and one would think that Microsoft would have used this opportunity with SP2 to add support for SATA. Specially considering there are no plans for a new Operating system in the near future.

Hi,

I have 2 SATA W/D 120Gb on my IDE1 with no problems.

Cheerz :) ;) :D

I have 2 SATA drives, too
with XP SP1

Guys I have a SATA drive with WinXP SP1 too, but that is not what I was asking. Obviously my question was not clear enough, what I mean't to ask was, will WinXP SP2 automatically recognize SATA drives without providing drivers seperately at the time of installing WinXP, just like with IDE drives?

Yeah, I understand what you are asking -- because I was wondering the same thing too. Somebody will have to try installing Windows XP SP2 (intergrated) CD on a new computer with SATA drives.

The problem I can't test it is because, even though I tried a low level format of my SATA drive, Windows XP SP1 still detects the hard drive and I am able to install Windows XP. I don't know how that happens. May be something to do with the motherboard?

I know like even Win2k supports SATA.

Sata is recognised by most modern bios',that's why some of us probably have no probs..

Here are some web pages I came up with:

1. Installing Windows XP: Without Sata Drivers & Without Floppy Drive
http://forums.devhardware.com/archive/t-19102
if the bios detects the HD then it should work. if it doesn't then it might either be the HD is messed up or the motherboard.

2. Hardware Analysis - Forum - Win install without floppy drive...
http://www.hardwareanalysis.com/content/topic/24120/
You can if your bios has an option for sata legacy mode. This means it will use the default drivers for winxp.
But this is bad because performance is cut in half for SATA. As far as not having a floppy to install I think at this point it would be tricky.

3. Unattended install, SATA drivers, and NO Floppy , I finally got it to work!
http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=13173


I didn't install any drivers from the motherboard CD, so does this mean that my SATA drives are running at half of its performance? :o
Looks like there is a lot more research to do, but no time.

This has nothing to do with windows. As a matter of fact, the only way you can get windows to recognize any devices on external mass storage controllers is by pressing F6 during setup or by specifying the driver path in oemdriverpath. Till the time SATA moves from PCI to Native, you are still gonna have this problem on most of the motherboards (except for the Intel mobos that have the ICH5 controllers, which in turn provide Native SATA support).

The case with my Asus P4C800 Mobo that has native SATA support thanks to the Intel chip. So, I've got 2 SATA ports plus the two standard IDE ports on the mobo. LIke you say, not much to do with Windows, but with the mobo.