If you mean that you have a sata drive, you may be out of luck, unless you have good expereince with Linux in general.
 
See this post;
 
http://www.linuxcompatible.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=986&view=previous

windows partition? if i got that right, then u should first format it to ext3 filesystem

Not unless you want to get rid of Windows. I think, if I understand the problem with sata drives and Linux, it's the ability to recognize the drive in general.
 
In Mandrake, and I believe this also holds true with RedHat installs, you have tqo options.
 
You can allow the install to auto configure unused space.
 
Or choose to use a utility like PartitonMagic to pre-format the partitions.
 
If you want to have a dual boot, system, then you would resize the Windows partiton and you could create an ext3 partition on the remaining space. Then tell the Mandrake or RedHat install to use the ext3 partition that you made.
 
But again, the issue here seems to be the ability of Linux to recognize the sata drive at all.
 
Again, I believe that you can turn sata off in the bios, but you should decide what you want to do before the Windows and Linux install. Either way, back up your important data on the Windos deive before you do an install. This is always a good idea, in case something does go wrong.
 
Also make sure that you run defrag in Windows before making any changes to the partitions, such as resizing, so that you don't screw up and data that might be hanging around near the end of a fragmented Win partition.
 
So, the idea is to have a game plan from the start, depending what you want to achieve,
 
Perhaps someone who has sata drive experience can clarify this more.

HI, thanks daleff.
 
I used partition magic and got Fedora on my system
 
Wooo! Finally I can do some real coding.