I’ve been reading these forums and elsewhere on how to install a second SATA hard drive in a NON-Raid configuration, and I seem to keep going around in circles. I would like to see if this is correct.

Firstly I have a new Dimension 9200 with Vista and a single 500GB SATA HD using the Intel Matrix Storage Manager. My BIOS is preset to “Raid on”.

I’ve read that all I need to do is install the second hard drive, set the BIOS to “Auto Select/ATA” and turn on the appropriate port SATA 1 (making sure the boot HD - C: is set to SATA port 0 and the DVD-ROM and DVD Burner are set to port 4 and 5)

Is this anywhere near correct?

I’ve also read that the original HD may not boot after setting the BIOS to Auto Select / ATA  and that a complete reinstall on Vista is required (seems a little extreme).

Thanks.