SATA HDD and operating system woes

Several days into the saga and I've still not found an operating system (despite available drivers) which will recognise my SATA drive - apart from OpenSuse (Linux).

While I'd like to switch to open-source Linux, it represents a steep learning curve and I'm done with reading thousands of pages of instructions just to use a tool - an operating system - which, of course, can't read my Windows drive.

I've tried:

Windows 7
WinXP, SP3
Solaris
Ubuntu

and still no joy, despite having all the up-to-date drivers.

All I can say is b*ggering b*llocks to them all.

My newest hope is in Google's ReactOS, which is in alpha. Given Google's iffy data protection reputation, I'm in two minds about this, but will give it a try.

God almighty. SATA has been around for a while, so why on earth do so called leading operating systems not provide automatic detection/support for them?

If there is an operating system God out there, can s/he please contact me?

Amen.

Update:

Woohoo!

Many thanks to those who've emailed me with suggestions - in particular Peter, for his patience and suggestions!

I decided to vape the SATA drive and have installed Ubuntu 9.04, running VirtualBox and WinE. Very happy with that result. Works like a charm, easy to use - and it's all free!

Like OpenSuse (which is unintuitive for newbie Linuxers), Ubuntu 9.04 Just Works - and it has an intuitive interface - even allowing me to view my old Windows files!

Virtual box lets me use all facilities on my computer, as if it were the host, rather than being a virtual machine. Highly recommended!

Brilliant!