How to Update SATA Drivers

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SATA (Serial Advanced Technology Attachment) hard disk drives are common in laptop computers, but desktops also support SATA hard drive connectivity. SATA hard drives use a type of software called a "driver" to communicate with the rest of the computer. If this driver becomes outdated, then the SATA disk drive might malfunction, corrupting or losing data. You can use utilities in the Windows operating system to find and install updated SATA drivers so that the disk drive works properly.

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Step 1

Click on the Windows orb logo at the bottom of the desktop to show the "Start" menu. Select the "Control Panel" from the menu to open a window. Click on the "System and Security" category. Choose "Device Manager" under the "System" section to open the utility.

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Step 2

Click on the "plus" (+) sign next to "Disk Drives" to see the SATA hard drive. The drive is labeled with the name of its manufacturer.

Step 3

Double-click on the SATA drive to open a new dialog box.

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Step 4

Click on the "Driver" tab to bring it to the front of the dialog box.

Step 5

Click on the "Update Driver" button. Follow the instructions to download and install driver updates to the SATA drive.

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