Edward W. Thompson wrote:
> "Clayton" <claytonbNOSPAM@xtra.co.nz> wrote in message
> news:%23b5hVAH6HHA.3716@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
>> Some motherboards on a clean install will prompt you to insert a disk
>> containing drivers required to continue setup for the controller that the
>> hard drive is connected to.
>>
>> What motherboards I have no idea.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> "DL" <address@invalid> wrote in message
>> news:uzMbrR85HHA.600@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...
>>> Perhaps you mean sata/raid controler drivers, hard disks dont have
>>> drivers
>>> And where you source them depends on whether its an onboard controler or
>>> via a card
>>>
>>> "Edward W. Thompson" <thomeduk1@btopenworld.com> wrote in message
>>> news:erDg5W65HHA.5980@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
>>>> Are the drivers for SATA HDDs drive/manufacturer specific or generic?
>>>>
>>>
> Thanks for your response but I already understand the requirement for
> drivers. What I want to know is if I have say a Hitachi SATA drive can I
> use say a Seagate driver? That is are SATA drivers generic, 'one size fits
> all'?
>
Separately installable drivers are associated with the chipset, *not* with
the disk. Disks are generic and interchangable, and they had better all have
the same SATA register interface, or the manufacturer is in big trouble from
a business perspective. For the simplest functional mode, they are all the same.
When the chipset interface matches the interface understood by the
Microsoft I/O space or PCI space drivers, either of those can be used.
For example, boards with Intel chipsets on them, can support Windows
installation, without using F6 and a driver supplied on a floppy disk.
I believe the last few years of Nvidia stuff might qualify as well.
(Good documentation is hard to find, but does exist from some manufacturers.)
"Intel ICH5R Serial ATA Controller Programmers Reference Manual"
Page 11 - Legacy uses I/O space. Native uses PCI BAR plus offset.
As far as I know, both Microsoft driver types are available in WinXP SP1.
(If the I/O space one was missing, you wouldn't be able to install on
old hardware.)
http://www.intel.com/design/chipsets/manuals/25267102.pdf
When the chipset does something silly, like AHCI or RAID, then those
functions are supported by the chipset maker. The chipset maker will
provide a driver for stuff like that. In a lot of cases, the driver
fills the gap between Windows "SCSI-like" protocol stack, and the
peculiar properties of the hardware. Windows thinks it is dealing
with a SCSI device, and sends a SCSI command/data block, to the
chipset device driver. The chipset driver converts the SCSI command
into hardware specific operations (such as handling AHCI or reading
and writing multiple disks in the case of RAID).
You won't find drivers on the Seagate site for HDD, neither on
Western Digital, Samsung, Hitachi, Fujitsu, IBM etc. [ There are
tools for partitioning, formatting, cloning disks, installing DDOs
and the like, but no drivers. ]
You will find drivers on Intel, Nvidia, ATI, SIS, VIA, ALI etc.,
as they all make Northbridge/Southbridge chipsets for motherboards.
And the Southbridge talks to disks.
Motherboards also use separate chips for things like additional
RAID controllers, standalone IDE interfaces, standalone SATA or
ESATA interfaces. All of those need drivers from the chip
manufacturer. In other words, if a chip is "not the Southbridge",
it needs a driver. When the chip manufacturer does not have a
support web page, then you go to the motherboard manufacturer
and check their download page. It is another case of the
"SCSI-like" protocol stack.
So the only case where a driver is not needed, is the "vanilla"
mode of Southbridge disk interfaces. If the Southbridge is
put in an advanced operating mode, Windows does not have native
drivers for that. And if a separate chip is used for interfacing
to disks, that needs a chip driver from the chip maker.
The Device Manager can probably tell you more about the drivers,
than this quick overview. My overview focuses on the installation
problem, rather than comparing all the files used for each part
of the hardware. If you do see a driver associated with your disk,
it probably came with the OS, such as the "disk.sys" used by my
IDE boot drive.
Paul