PDA

View Full Version : Is It Possible?


Gooch2k
07-29-2003, 02:20 PM
Is it possible to connect three IDE hard drives together off a single motherboard IDE controller? I'm just asking because I've just bought myself a new 120GB hard drive and was wondering if I could use it along side my other two 45GB hard drives. I have a DVD drive and a CD-RW drive connected to my second motherboard IDE controller so using that isn't really an option.

I know it's a bit of a noob question but all the computers I've ever built have only had two hard drives maximum.

Thanks in advance.
ilw
07-29-2003, 02:27 PM
don't think its possible theyre designed to take 2 devices each, u need either another eide controller, u can get pci ones for not very much or u can fit the extra hard drive as an external through a usb connector if u buy a external drive bay
bigdawgfoxx
07-29-2003, 02:34 PM
yeah your mobo prob only has 1 IDE controller which can hold 2 hard drives. You can buy a PCI IDE controler..i dont see them often though lol and it should hold 2 more so you could have 4
Gooch2k
07-29-2003, 02:48 PM
Cheers all. Anyone know of any good affordable PCI IDE controllers?
bigdawgfoxx
07-29-2003, 02:56 PM
I got one from a 5 year old computer! hahahaha lmao..but its serial..not pci hahaha ok all i can find is serial and ata controlers...but im still looking ..
bigdawgfoxx
07-29-2003, 03:01 PM
Different Card (http://www.nextag.com/serv/main/buyer/outpdir.jsp?doSearch=y&search=ide%20controllers) There are some links to where you can buy some cards...welcome lol
Gooch2k
07-29-2003, 03:20 PM
Cheers buddy!
Livy
07-29-2003, 04:51 PM
another idea, sell off the crapest of your 45gig hardrive, and replace it with your 120. i mean you would have over 200gigs of storage with all three, even with the 2 you will still have at least 160, which is twice what i got. then it give u some money back which you spent on the 120gig. and you dont have to fork out any more money.

or if you dont use the dvd rom much, take it out and put the 3rd drive there.
ooo
07-29-2003, 06:58 PM
when you use the pci controller would it be like this?


MOTHERBOARD
1st IDE
HARD DRIVE (MASTER)
HARD DRIVE (SLAVE)
2nd IDE
CDRW (MASTER)
CDROM (SLAVE)

PCI CONTROLLER
1st IDE
HARD DRIVE (MASTER)
HARD DRIVE (SLAVE)
2nd IDE
HARD DRIVE (MASTER)
HARD DRIVE (SLAVE)

like would the master and the slave be set the same?... or do they have be like


MOTHERBOARD
1st IDE
HARD DRIVE (MASTER)
HARD DRIVE (SLAVE)
2nd IDE
CDRW (MASTER)
CDROM (SLAVE)

PCI CONTROLLER
1st IDE
HARD DRIVE (SLAVE)
HARD DRIVE (SLAVE)
2nd IDE
HARD DRIVE (SLAVE)
HARD DRIVE (SLAVE)
Livy
07-29-2003, 06:59 PM
it would be as you first said, as the computer just treats them as a new ide controller. which can consist of 4 drives,
bigdawgfoxx
07-30-2003, 12:24 AM
Soul..that was a VERY good question lol thanx livy for the info..i wanted to know also lol
Gooch2k
07-30-2003, 10:03 AM
Does anyone know of any PCI IDE controllers that are fairly cheap and work well? I'd just like to get a few of opinions about some cards before I choose one.

Cheers.
ilw
07-30-2003, 10:38 AM
Its hard to find info about these cards cos they're not that popular and I don't think theres a lot of difference between most of them. I did see a cheap one at dabs manufacturer code: K14PCAT133 from MAxtor which looked alright. But i saw some really bad reviews for a promise board, saying it wouldn't support cdrw drives and dvd burners and was generally just crap.
Whatever board u decide to buy try running it past google and seeing if any reviews pop up.
Good luck, if u find a good one, post the name please cos I may have to get one soon as well. I wish motherboard manufacturers would add another slot. <_<
ooo
07-30-2003, 06:55 PM
pci cards are around 20 dollars.. :/

i want one but i dont have an extra hard drive... so itz no point as of now..

www.pricewatch.com sells one for &#036;17
www.newegg.com sells it for about the same...
lynx
07-30-2003, 07:39 PM
In UK, try Maplin (http://www.maplin.co.uk)

They do an ATA100 pci card for £14.99 or an ATA133 pci card for £19.99
metalrebelzz
07-30-2003, 09:00 PM
most motherboards support four IDE devices......which could mean 3 HDD&#39;s and one CD-ROM/CD-RW or w/e....

also, you can get expansion PCI cards that will support more IDE devices..but they&#39;re not very popular, so u have to look hard for them....

hope that helped.... :D :beerchug:
leolaw
07-31-2003, 02:09 AM
Are ya&#39;ll noob?

I have not seen anyone mention about SCSI harddrive here????

Dont tell me that SCSI PCI card is not popular&#33;&#33;&#33;&#33;

The SCSI PCI card doesnt have limit of how many harddrive or other SCSI devices on it, as long as it can handle that&#33;&#33;&#33;&#33;&#33;&#33;&#33;
Somebody1234
07-31-2003, 02:32 AM
Originally posted by leolaw@30 July 2003 - 22:09
Are ya&#39;ll noob?

I have not seen anyone mention about SCSI harddrive here????
No, That&#39;s because the person who asked the question has an IDE drive.

Look at the first post of this thread, noob. :P
Spindulik
07-31-2003, 01:06 PM
YES you CAN, use multiple hard drives as one&#33;

You need something like the FastTrak66. I believe you can have up to 4 hard drives merged as on "physical hard drive", also use it as RAID. 2 masters, and 2 slaves. Plus you&#39;ll have your motherboard&#39;s hard drive to use a seperate source for IDE devices.

Click here (http://www.sysopt.com/articles/ultrafast/) here to see some interesting info in converting a cheap Ultra66 to an expensive FastTrak66.
ilw
07-31-2003, 01:14 PM
I don&#39;t think he was asking about setting up multiple disks as one, his problem was that he had nowhere to connect up his new hard drive. I think the most common way of doing multiple disks as one is with JBOD (just a bunch of disks) which is supported by quite a lot of motherboard manufacturers. JBOD supports spanning partitions over multiple drives in any way that u like
Somebody1234
07-31-2003, 02:07 PM
Originally posted by Spindulik@31 July 2003 - 09:06
YES you CAN, use multiple hard drives as one&#33;

You need something like the FastTrak66. I believe you can have up to 4 hard drives merged as on "physical hard drive", also use it as RAID. 2 masters, and 2 slaves. Plus you&#39;ll have your motherboard&#39;s hard drive to use a seperate source for IDE devices.

Click here (http://www.sysopt.com/articles/ultrafast/) here to see some interesting info in converting a cheap Ultra66 to an expensive FastTrak66.
FastTrak66?

I think he should at least use &#39;ultra 100&#39; or even &#39;ultra 133&#39; not 66 as the newer drives use 100 or 133.

Look at the 2 last items listed here: Click here to see web site. (http://www.promise.com/product/product_list_eng.asp?familyId=3)

http://www.promise.com/product/images/U100_TX2.jpg

http://www.promise.com/product/images/Ultra133_TX2.jpg
Gooch2k
08-12-2003, 01:27 PM
Thanks everyone for the help. I&#39;ve bought myself SIIG Ultra ATA/133 PCI controller for £20 and it works really well. I now have all three hard drives running together and have another three solts available for more IDE devices if the need arises.

Cheers all.

P.s. Sorry about the time it took to reply but I had my computer in bits for a while and when I came back online we had all this server trouble.
3RA1N1AC
08-14-2003, 09:27 AM
Originally posted by metalrebelzz@30 July 2003 - 13:00
most motherboards support four IDE devices......which could mean 3 HDD&#39;s and one CD-ROM/CD-RW or w/e....
NOT a good idea to put a hard drive and a CD/DVD-Rom on the same IDE connector. the CD/DVD runs at a much slower bus speed than the hard drive, so the IDE connector runs all devices on the cable at the slower speed-- i.e. the hard drive would run at 33mbps like the CD/DVD.