I just got a bunch of stuff, one of them being a Samsung 120 gig SATA hard drive.
I wanted to run this with my Maxtor 80 gig IDE
Can I do this?
Right now, it's installed, but i don't see it under My Computer, but my computer does recognize it in the hardware manager
I got this OEM off Newegg, and i didn't get any drivers or anything...

What mobo you got? you running one as master and one as slave? which one is the master? Are you trying to run them both on a their respective "primary" channel? More details please...

Alright, mobo is asus A7N8X, my IDE is the master, and i'm running the SATA on the primary channel...
don't know how to make the SATA slave, since there is no jumper

Did you enable the serial controler? "jumper set to 1&2" Did you install the drivers and Utlility monitor for the Serial ATA devices?

From what I can see, to use the SATA option on that mobo you will have to setup a RAID array, which means you will need 2 identical SATA drives in a RAID O,1 configuration"you would likely use RAID 0(striping) for performance". The only way that you would be able to use the SATA controller as a "regular" one instead of a RAID array is if the manufacture has drivers to enable that. Do a search on:
(Silicon Image Sil 3112a)
You can also try creating a RAID array with one HD but I dont think it will work. During POST hold down F4 and it will bring up the RAID config utility.

Also you must have the A7N8X-E Deluxe casue thats the only one in its class that has SATA.

Yeah, it's the deluxe.
I found the Silicon Image driver, and I installed, it now the problem i think to partition it or at least give it a drive letter.
I see the drive under drive management, but i can't format it or partition it.

Did you install the regular drivers? If so you will have to use the RAID config utility "F4".

Yeah, i tried that, but I didn't know what to do with it.
it all said raid not configured or something like that

Do you have 2 SATA drives?

nope, just 1
so i don't think i can make a raid anyway right?

No you wont be able to make a RAID, but thats the only way you can use the SATA drives or the SATA controller for that matter, unless you find drivers by that manufacture that allows you to use the SATA controller as a regular one and not RAID.

Well, is there just a way I could format it, since my computer sees the drive, but it's not in my computer

Have you downloaded the newest drivers and utility from Asus?

You can try to format it with any 3rd party software or whatever came with the HD.

here is the link for the software from samsung http://product.samsung.com/cgi-bin/nabc/su...uct_results.jsp

PS, the drives on the SATA controller are Not hot plugable.

Right-click on "My Computer", select "Manage", and then click on "Disk Management." Your new drive should appear there for partitioning and formatting.

It does appear in Disk Management, but I can't do anything to it. There are no options for me to format or partition. What kind of partition should it be? Primary, extended, or logical?

Metroid010, I dont think your getting it.....the SATA controller can only be used for a RAID configuration. That means you must have 2 hard drives and then you use the F4 function to create a RAID array. When you use the F4 function to create the RAID array it will do all the work for you ie, it will format and make the hard drives usable. The only way you will be able to use the SATA channel as a regular channel and not RAID is to get different drivers form the chipset manufacture or from Asus that will allow you to do that.

Example: I have a mobo that has 4 IDE channels. The 2 extra are for a RAID configuration of 0 or 1. The mobo manufacture had drivers that allowed me to use those 2 extra IDE channels as regular IDE channels, that meant that I could use one hard drive on each channel without having 2, but the bios has to configure them after post so they are recognized by the OS.

The only way you would be able to get around this is if you could use a SATA drive on a primary or secondary channel, then you wouldnt have to set up a RAID array, but this mobo does not have the option of using the SATA connectors for primary or secondary channels.