SATA HD question

[DSDchemE]

A few SATA related questions-

The motherboard I'm getting is:
http://www2.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813130491
http://www.msicomputer.com/product/p_spec.asp?model=K8N_Neo4-F&class=mb

I'm also buying two SATA drives, which I would like to use separately (not in a RAID array). Someone mentioned that I should avoid having them on the same jumper or something (or they'd be really slow). How does this apply on this motherboard (which has 4 onboard SATA ports)? Would I use slots 1 and 3?

Also, to make sure I have the process clear....

To install Windows XP I'll insert the CD, then at a certain point I'll need to insert the floppy with the RAID drivers. Or do I insert the floppy before starting Windows installation?
Will the windows installer format the drive for me, or do I need to do that myself (before continuing)? I've been using NTFS. Is that the best format to use? Finally, will I have a choice as to which drive to install Windows on?

Thanks for your help in advance!

 

[holydeadpenguins]

Each sata port is really it's own channel, sata drives dont have jumpers, ntfs is the best, most secure, and gives you the most formatted space. If you have plain pata drives you should avoid putting on the same cable. You will have to insert the floppy when it asks you to during setup.

 

[DSDchemE]

ok...thanks for all the help!

 

[psyno]

Someone mentioned that I should avoid having them on the same jumper or something (or they'd be really slow). How does this apply on this motherboard (which has 4 onboard SATA ports)? Would I use slots 1 and 3?

Total crap. :E

Each SATA port has its own channel. With the parallel interfaces, only one device can be active on a channel at a time, so if you were hooking up two (parallel) ATA/ATAPI devices, it'd be a good idea to fill the primary master and secondary master before filling the slaves, but SATA does away with all that crap. (SCSI doesn't have a problem with it either).

 

[DSDchemE]

Ok, I just thought of a few more questions.

I have 2 harddrives, and would like to install Windows on the 120gb one (as opposed to the 200gb one). I'd also like the main drive to be C: drive (security be d*mned).

When do I assign drive letters to my hard drives and optical drives?
When do I format them: before or during Windows installation?
Finally, if I need to format them manually, how do I go about doing that?

 

[psyno]

You don't get a choice about the C: drive. In Windows, the Windows drive is the C: drive. The end.

Other drives though, you can assign arbitrary letters after you've installed Windows. It's a good idea to do this immediately after installing Windows.

You will need to format at least one partition for Windows for installation. Beyond that, you can partition and format whenever you like.