I am taking the leap to build a computer. The mobo has onboard sata 3.0 and I have a compatable HDD on the way. Trying to do all the homework, I learned Win xp home sp2 will not detect a sata device without a sata driver. The Catch 22 is how to install the driver on a disk that Windows cannot detect without that driver. I know I am missing something embarassingly simple here, but what is it?
Thanks for any help    

You provide the SATA chipset driver to Windows when you install it. The driver is provided by the chipset manufacturer and fits on a floppy disk.
When you are installing Windows, it will say to press the F6 key if you have a SCSI or other special driver to provide, then a little later you will be asked for a floppy disk containing the driver.
Go to your motherboard manufacturer's web site or look in the manual provided and see which chipset controls the SATA inputs [usually there will be two chipsets on the board and they may be from different companies ].
The driver may be on the motherboard drivers disk or you may have to get it from the manufacturer's web site. In either case, you will still have to put it on a floppy disk in order to provide during the os installation.

Hello dlwolff0, Appreciate the help. But this has me stumped. What is the os installation up to this point writing to before the sata driver allows the hdd to be detected?  
Thanks for your patience

The program asks for the driver early in the installation procedure. All information is being held in memory prior to the actual transfer of files from the CD to the hard drive. That's one of the reasons they give a minimum amount of required RAM in order to run a particular os.

Gotcha! Thanks!