Asus K8N-E Deluxe number of hard drives.

[Vamp]

Well, by the looks of things I dont have the HDD installed in a SATA slot, so does that mean, provided my case is big enough, that I can have four HDDs in those while I have one in the IDE slot? Can I have one HDD in the IDE and another in the SATA slot? Does the actual HDD sit somewhere else and a cable connects it to a SATA or IDE connector, or is it slotted straight into the SATA or IDE slot (like a GPU sits directly in a AGP/PCI-E slot?

Currently I have a floppy drive, a DVD writer and a DVD-ROM along with my single 200GB HD...And a relatively big case.

[lynx]

Don't forget that your dvd-rom and dvd-writer will each be using an IDE connection, so having accounted for your existing hdd you only have a single IDE connection left.

However, there's nothing to prevent you from mixing SATA hdds and IDE hdds in the same case. The actual drives go in the same place in the case, but the connectors are different. One other thing to remember with SATA drives, they also have different power connectors. If your case doesn't have any SATA power connectors you will need an adapter (except WD which have both types). 2 were supplied with my last ASUS board so check around, you may already have some.

[Vamp]

It came with 4 SATA Connectors and 2X2 port SATA power connectors...What is the difference between SATA and IDE? If I use the last IDE connector for a HDD, then technically I still have 4 more SATA sockets to connect 4 more HDDs to?

[lynx]

It came with 4 SATA Connectors and 2X2 port SATA power connectors...

Actually, there are 6 sata connectors, but possibly only 4 cables. 2 are between the processor and the AGP slot, the other 4 are in 2 rows near the edge of the board.

What is the difference between SATA and IDE?
IDE is at the limit of its capability, SATA is really only just getting started. The basic difference is the interface.

IDE cable

SATA cable


Obviously they are not interchangable.

If I use the last IDE connector for a HDD, then technically I still have 4 more SATA sockets to connect 4 more HDDs to?
Basically yes except 6 not 4.
You have 2 different SATA interfaces. The 2 connectors between the processor and the AGP slot are driven by the Nvidia chipset. In native mode you don't need drivers for these, but you need them if you try to use the raid function. The 4 connectors near the edge of the board are driven by a Silicon Image chip. If you use these you will have to install the SiI drivers, whether you use raid or not.

In either case you need to enable the relevant chip in bios before they will work.

[Vamp]

...Like I said, I'll just get a tech to do it

Does a floppy drive use up an IDE connector?

Is it recommended to mix brands? Like have a Western Digitial and a Seagate HDD?

[lynx]

The floppy drive has its own connector.

There's no problem mixing manufacturers.