install sata dvd drive hd

I'm putting together a PC with a Plextor sata dvd drive and a Hitachi sata hard drive. I never did that before. Will Vista (or xp for that matter) even start to load with a sata dvd drive? At what point do I install a driver for sata support. And do I still need a floppy drive for this? Thanks

That depends on the mobo, not the drives. If the mobo has the SATA drivers in firmware then you will not need drivers unless you are using RAID.
Vista can see drivers on floppy, cd, or thumb drive. Having said that, I still insist on having a floppy drive on all the systems I build. There are still many uses for floppies. I use them constantly in installing legacy systems in Virtual PC and Virtual Server. There are other uses such as BIOS and other firmware flashing.
"kcmc20" wrote in message

I'm putting together a PC with a Plextor sata dvd drive and a Hitachi sata hard drive. I never did that before. Will Vista (or xp for that matter) even start to load with a sata dvd drive? At what point do I install a driver for sata support. And do I still need a floppy drive for this? Thanks

I am going to buy one of the new Intel Dual Core 2 processors as soon as they are released. I was thinking of an Intel motherboard as well. If the drivers are in the firmware then you are saying that the dvd drive and hard drive will be recognized and no special drivers will be needed during instalation? That would be great. Do you have any advice on a better motherboard?
"Colin Barnhorst" wrote:

That depends on the mobo, not the drives. If the mobo has the SATA drivers in firmware then you will not need drivers unless you are using RAID.
Vista can see drivers on floppy, cd, or thumb drive. Having said that, I still insist on having a floppy drive on all the systems I build. There are still many uses for floppies. I use them constantly in installing legacy systems in Virtual PC and Virtual Server. There are other uses such as BIOS and other firmware flashing.
"kcmc20" wrote in message I'm putting together a PC with a Plextor sata dvd drive and a Hitachi sata hard drive. I never did that before. Will Vista (or xp for that matter) even start to load with a sata dvd drive? At what point do I install a driver for sata support. And do I still need a floppy drive for this? Thanks

I would buy the cpu and mobo together from someplace like newegg.
"kcmc20" wrote in message

I am going to buy one of the new Intel Dual Core 2 processors as soon as they are released. I was thinking of an Intel motherboard as well. If the drivers are in the firmware then you are saying that the dvd drive and hard drive will be recognized and no special drivers will be needed during instalation? That would be great. Do you have any advice on a better motherboard?
"Colin Barnhorst" wrote:
That depends on the mobo, not the drives. If the mobo has the SATA drivers in firmware then you will not need drivers unless you are using RAID.
Vista can see drivers on floppy, cd, or thumb drive. Having said that, I still insist on having a floppy drive on all the systems I build. There are still many uses for floppies. I use them constantly in installing legacy systems in Virtual PC and Virtual Server. There are other uses such as BIOS and other firmware flashing.
"kcmc20" wrote in message I'm putting together a PC with a Plextor sata dvd drive and a Hitachi sata hard drive. I never did that before. Will Vista (or xp for that matter) even start to load with a sata dvd drive? At what point do I install a driver for sata support. And do I still need a floppy drive for this? Thanks