Upgrading to 160GB HD in WinXP-SP1

[Rob]

Hi and thanks for your attention!

I have two questions:

1. Western Digital says I might need Service Pack 1a to
ensure that my 160GB HD is supported as 1 partion. Is
that true? I have SP1 with all of the critical updates
(HotFixes) and Microsoft doesn't recommend installing
SP1a. They say it only removes Microsoft Virtual
Machine -- which I prefer not to lose -- and fixes some
bugs that are already included in the HotFixes. How can
I be sure that my new HD will be supported as 1 partition
if I don't update to SP1a?

2. Western Digital says that WindowsXP doesn't include
native drivers for their PCI ATA100 controller card so I
have to install it and their drivers prior to connecting
the new HD. However, my ASUS A7N266 board came with two
onboard Ultra DMA100 IDE channels that seem to work
fine. My current HD runs at Ultra DMA Mode 5 -- so does
that mean that I am alright to plug their ATA100
controller card in without installing their drivers?

Thanks again!

Rob

 

[Rob]

Thanks again for your excellent feedback RC!

Would you please clarify how to assign drive letters in
Disk Management and what you mean by going through the F6
procedure -- I'm not sure that I am familiar with those
functions.

Thanks!

Rob

 

[Rob]

Thanks RC -- you are a great source of information!

Rob