RE:
They're they exact same machine:  same drive, same chipset, etc.
As for why I haven't been able to get the Etch installer, every time I've tried for the past week to download it, it trudges along at 4K/s - 30K/s and eventually ends up stopping completely after about 50MB or so.  I guess everyone is trying to grab the Etch netinst ISO.  
Update: Today's Testing NetInst ISO just completed and I was able to do a complete installation.  I hope the SATA support makes it into the final release this time around.  
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