How do I replace a failed SATA drive.

Hi Steve,

You can follow these nice instructions to reinstall XP.

Hi I attempted to follow the instructions but I still have a problem in that the drive is not recognised. I need to be able to run a 'manufactures' application. I downloaded the SATA file R158600 on another pc and stored it on a memory stick which I put into the USB port when prompted to 'Please insert the disk 'Manufacturer Supplied Hardware Support disc into drive A (only the CD/DVD is accessible). At this point I can go no further as pressing enter does not rune the driver file. I must be doing something wrong but I don't know what.

Hi I attempted to follow the instructions but I still have a problem in that the drive is not recognised. I need to be able to run a 'manufactures' application. I downloaded the SATA file R158600 on another pc and stored it on a memory stick which I put into the USB port when prompted to 'Please insert the disk 'Manufacturer Supplied Hardware Support disc into drive A (only the CD/DVD is accessible). At this point I can go no further as pressing enter does not rune the driver file. I must be doing something wrong but I don't know what.

Have you tried pressing F2 at boot, and going into your BIOS to see if your new drive there. If your adding it as a second HD, then follow the instructions below.

When you see the Dell splash screen, Press F2, go into your BIOS, Highlight the drive and press enter to enable it. Then save and exit into windows. Then go into Control Panel, Administrative Tools, Computer Management, Storage, Disk Management. Then right click your new drive, select format. From there you can assign the drive an letter.

Hi I just have the new drive the old one crashed. When going into setup the new drive i.e. the only hard drive is not recognised. The Sata-0 position is turned on but Drive ID is unknown.  Thanks for your reply but the problem is the Setup does not recognise the new unformated or partitioned drive and there does not seem to be any way to partition and format the drive.

Thanks

Steve

in the Bios I changed the setting from 'RAID ON' to 'RAID Autodetect/ATA (the only two options). Rebooted using DELL  XP recovery CD. Accepted XP Licence agreement, The screen showing existing and unpartitioned sections has four Unknown Disk entries each one saying 'There is no disk in this drive'. I will try the RAID solution but  where do I get the drivers and how do I run them on the PC as there is no hard drive and no floppy drive.

Thanks

Steve

Steve,

The drive will be partitioned and formatted during the Windows installation process.

You either need to set the SATA controller to ATA mode in the BIOS, or you need to install the RAID drivers when prompted to do so. In the instructions, he describes the point at which the RAID drivers must be installed.

Ok, there's definitely some other problem. Do you have any other drives in this desktop? If so, I would disconnect them.

Also please tell me the exact model of the new drive you bought.

The only drive is the new drive 'Maxtor Maxline III, Model 7L320s0  320GB SATA150 HDD 3.5 inch'. The original that failed was 'Western Digital WD2500JS  SATA Model  WD2500JS-75NC83'.

Does this help?

No Amazon. I will try a drive from another source and if it works I will return the current drive to Amazon for a refund. Thanks for all your help and patience.

The new drive is plugged into the same power and data cable that the original HD used. If I remove the new drive and connect the failed original it can see it on SATA 0.

Are you sure you plugged the new drive into SATA port 0 and you've got both the data and power cables connected?

I have tried another new unformated drive, It is detected and I am currently restoring the computer.  Thanks again for all your help. Hopefully I can return the just purchased drive to Amazon for a refund.

Ok, that's good to hear. Amazon in my experience is very good about returns.

Good luck with the new drive.

The new drive installed OK but as drive H not drive C. Drive C to F are the card 'drives'. How do i get back to the situation that the local drive is drive C?