I've read all the posts regarding this dual boot issue, but your quoted post particularly caught my attention, as I too had read that XP would need extra drivers, and would not install without them onto an SATA drive. Here is where I am at (not unlike a lot of others here it appears):
1) I have a new Dell with Pre-installed Vista Premium, trying to dual boot with XP Home.
2) Used Vista to partition the C: drive, created an F: drive about 10Gbs (probably more than necessary, not sure, as I do plan on installing some programs that won't run in Vista). I'm not sure, will check later, but think my new F is a Primary Drive.
3) Inserted my XP install CD, rebooted, F12, and it got to the screen than asked to which partition I wanted to use.
4) The only partition listed was c: partition 1(unknown)
5) The new F: partition does not show up. I F3 and fume..... I spent ALL day yesterday futsing around with one issue or another... all a waste thus far.
6) I installed an external Seatgate via eSATA and tried to install on this.
7) Step 3 again, never got to step 4 above. Blue screen with suggestion I remove any new drives I might have installed, or check for viruses.
Back to square one.
I removed my new external drive I tried the F: drive route again. Same ugly results, no option except the c: drive.
I see that a few others here are having no problem actually getting XP installed (unlike me) but that getting the the PC to see both OS as a dual boot is the issue. I'll deal with that later if I can just get past my install problem.
Question:
1) Should my new F: partition show up as F: on my XP install? Or is the C: partition 1 (unknown) actually the F: partition in reality, just showing up as C
I'm afraid to proceed as I don't want to wipe out all the Vista, including the Restore D: partition which came with my Dell in case of a dire emergency.
2) Any suggestions of where I might go from here?
Thanks for your help.