Please guide me - confused with SATA PATA Primary Secondary master Slave...!!!

Respected members and gurus,

I am a non technical person and am only good at using computers for my finance jobs and NOT configuring it.

From last three days I have been reading and reading and reading about SATA PATA Primary Secondary master slave and so on...but now i think i really need help as my head is spinning...

WHAT I HAVE:

# Intel Motherboard 865GBF
# Two Hard disks

Disk One is PATA of 80 GB having windows 2000 advanced server loaded by my company (beyond my abiility to load it) for me with me being as administrator. However there is no other computer connected to it.

Disk two is SATA of 80 GB having two partitions C and D both partitions having windows xp professional
operating system and 40 Gb each.

Now on Disk Two i Used to work in Partition C with data saved on D. But one fine day without my knowledge the C OS crashed and so i started working on D. It has all the data.

Lots of valuable data is there in SATA hard disk two above in partition D.

WHAT I AM PLANNING:

# I have purchased one PATA Hard Disk of 80 GB to back up my valuable data on Partition D of disk one as I am feeling scared what shall happen if the partition D also crashes like partition C on second SATA hard disk.

In addition I am planning to purchase one either PATA or SATA (please say which one should i purchase...???) for backing up data which is there on PATA DISK One.

WHY I AM SO CONFUSED:

I am lost between PATA SATA primary secondary master slave as its truly beyond my technical capability to
understand. I have been surfing net and reading online materials for hours from last three days without any conclusion.

WHAT HELP I NEED:

Please guide me as to how should the hard disks(all from seagte):

Hard Disk One PATA windows advanced server 2000 80 Gb
Hard Disk Two SATA windows XP professional edition
Hard Disk Three PATA (blank brand new)
Hard Disk Four SATA or PATA (decided by you people to be purchased soon)

be installed on my Intel 865 GBF motherboard so that all primary secondary master slave (i am lost in these terms) configurations are properly done.

What should be my ideal back up strategy and how should i go about it.

I know that there are many many knowledgeable and experienced members in this forum who have great ideas and knowledge to effectively deal with the above issue. Please be kind enough to elaborate on what u think should be my approach for

a. installation on motherboard
b. backing up
c. disk management strategy

which is optimised for best performance under my situation.

ALSO can i have all the three Hard Disks connected simultaneously to my system....????

Also can i access data of one disk while being booted into another hard disk.....????

Thank u for ur anticipated help and valuable advices.

regards

sunando

sunandoghosh (at) rediffmail (dot) com

p.s. Please elaborate ur suggestion so that i can understand it with reasons if u deem fit for better
understanding...

ALSO suggest please the best simple back up strategy.

You need to please speciafy a detailed simple step by step installation, partitioning, formatting and back up strategy for me. thank u so so much.

also if u want to add anything please add...

Hello Sunanddoghosh,

Well, the bottom line is this: What you need is detailed training. We here at SAF can help with individual problems, but what you are asking for is complete training in the setup and maintenance of a computer and network system. Yes, we do have knowledge of this, but we simply do not have the space here for a structured training seminar.

First, why are you using an advanced operating system like Windows2000 Server? If you don't have a network, why not just use XP?

Second, for ordinary use and simple backing up of data, any harddrive that you find on a retail store's shelf will work just fine. Stick with SATA since it is the most commonly used, and don't worry about the differences since you are not into advanced, heavy duty video editing, graphics applications, etc.

I suggest that you check out your local community colleges in your area. Most of them offer computer classes at a reasonable charge, and you will get the hands-on basics with an evening class 1 or 2 nights a week. With someone standing at your side you will learn quickly.