SATA and AHCI?: how to?

[Admin]

I just got a new OS drive and was going to install (again) XP but I just discovered I was using IDE emulation before. I thought I might try using SATA native drivers or AHCI. But, how to do this?

I am reading about needing a floppy with the AHCI drivers on it. I don't have a floppy drive though when I built my new computer. I didn't think I'd need one nowadays. I am wondering if I can do the same procedure with a usb flash drive. Any chance? If not, I guess I have to find a floppy.

Anyway, can anyone answer the questions above and also, whether I need to do this at all? I suspect I do. I tried changing the BIOS from IDE emulation to SATA AHCI to see what would happen. My XP would not boot up and I thought I might have really screwed up my computer. But, I was able to get back into the BIOS and change it back. I guess that shows that the drivers are not pre-installed with XP (which I found out after reading the mobo manual).

Okay, here is the details and the hardware:

MOBO: Gigabyte GA-EP35-DS3R

HDD: 320GB WD 3200AAKS (OS Drive)

HDD#2: 500GB Samsung (storage drive)

I would like to try to use the AHCI mode. Could someone give me the instructions and options? Do I need to do it the floppy method?

I am looking at the Gigabyte website for the drivers: there are 2 options:

file 1: motherboard_driver_sataraid_intel.exe

or

file 2: motherboard_driver_sataraid_intel_bootdisk_32.exe (pre-install driver in which I need to copy onto floppy disk and then press F6 during the install).

Please recommend a course of action here and whether the options include any other way than the floppy. If the floppy is the easiest, then please let me know. I don't own either a floppy drive or usb flash drive but both are cheap.

Edit: I just read that some people slipstream their XP so as to combine the XP CD and the mobo AHCI/SATA driver onto 1 CD. That's an option, correct? It sounds good but complicated.

Thanks for any instructions, info advice and/or recommendations in advance!