How to hook up multiple IDE Hardrives

pc1x1

[H]ard|Gawd
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Jan 1, 2008
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I need some help from some that have been around for a while :D ;).

When I hooked up multiple hardrives, Sata had just come around, so never did the same with IDE. How do you do the same with IDE? Theres only 2 IDE slots on the ribbon cable. Do I need a special cable or a Controller card?

I have IDE and Sata connectors on the motherboard.

I have 2 IDE hardrives and 1 Sata, and a DVD Burner.

Thanks!
 
OMG...

First it was the serial port... then the LPT port.. now it's the IDE port that is going to make us feel old.

:D

OP, there are jumpers on the each PATA device, (AKA IDE), you can set each device to either master or slave. It doesn't matter which is which, but the two devices on the same PATA port need to be set differently.
 
I see, so basically on what I researched, the best route to go is get a controller card, since this mobo, ABit KN9 SLI has had problems with its controllers before. I got the computer as a gift, and its becoming my new server :)

I picked this guy, what do you guys think?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815124022

Also can I hook up the DVDRW to the IDE on the motherboard, and then run the hardrives through the controller card?

ps. Aside from googling, whats the LPT port for ;)?

ps. Thanks!
 
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LPT, parallel port... used commonly for printers, before USB came around. I had a scanner and zip150 drive that used the parallel port, too, lol.

BTW, I have a PCI IDE Controller card for sale ($10 shipped), if you don't mind a used one. ;)

Yes, you can run the HDDs off of the PCI IDE Controller card and the optical IDE drive off of the motherboard's onboard IDE controller.
 
LPT, parallel port... used commonly for printers, before USB came around. I had a scanner and zip150 drive that used the parallel port, too, lol.

BTW, I have a PCI IDE Controller card for sale ($10 shipped), if you don't mind a used one. ;)

Yes, you can run the HDDs off of the PCI IDE Controller card and the optical IDE drive off of the motherboard's onboard IDE controller.

Thats cool, can it also do Sata ? I need both in there unfortunately due to buggy mobo heh! I used a parralel port prior to usb, so you guys don't have to feel old :). I am Windows 95 Gen though hehe :) When USB 1.0 was getting popular, and I started messing with Raid's when Sata came out. :)
 
Hm... nope, no SATA, sorry. Though, I had one, I just don't know where it is right now, lol. That abit board is just having issues eh? o wellz.
 
I see, so basically on what I researched, the best route to go is get a controller card, since this mobo, ABit KN9 SLI has had problems with its controllers before. I got the computer as a gift, and its becoming my new server :)

I picked this guy, what do you guys think?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815124022

Also can I hook up the DVDRW to the IDE on the motherboard, and then run the hardrives through the controller card?

ps. Aside from googling, whats the LPT port for ;)?

ps. Thanks!

Only one IDE port on the motherboard?

Run your hard disks on the motherboard's IDE port and your DVD drive on the controller card. The reason being is that the motherboard's IDE port is part of the southbridge and is not constrained by the limited bandwidth of the PCI bus like that controller card will be. Throw your "slow" DVD drive on there and it won't notice the 33mb/s bandwidth limit of the PCI bus.
 
Only one IDE port on the motherboard?

Run your hard disks on the motherboard's IDE port and your DVD drive on the controller card. The reason being is that the motherboard's IDE port is part of the southbridge and is not constrained by the limited bandwidth of the PCI bus like that controller card will be. Throw your "slow" DVD drive on there and it won't notice the 33mb/s bandwidth limit of the PCI bus.

Do you really use a 240 res display :), thats real bawler stuff. Wish I had some of that stuff around to play with, and learn.

I forgot about the 33 mb constraint, unfortunately thats the problem, the motherboard has a buggy ide/sata controller, and Abit doesn't exist anymore so no rma etc, hehe.

What is the normal read and write speeds on HDDs?

I will be using at least 3 HDDs on this board, all WD's 160, 200, and a 80.

This is my little server, but I wasn't planning on raid etc.

All we really use the server for at home is to scan files, and stream files, to all the other computers, etc. Think that 33mb will be a large bottleneck?

Eng, I will one day buy something from ya, heh!
 
wow, i didn't think i'd see this question for years to come... damn do i feel suddenly old.
 
I used to run 4 IDE drives and 4 SATA drives and an IDE DVD drive.
I used the Promise line of controllers. First one had 2 IDE Ports, it was a fast track model.
The second one was a SATA TX2Plus with 2 SATA Ports and 1 IDE Port.
Both of them worked great but since they are older, there is limited support for newer os's and larger drives.

If your drives support Cable Select (CS), use that as that allows you to just plug in the drives without worrying what if one is a master or slave. helps out if you are swapping drives or drive locations amongst different cables.
 
Only one IDE port on the motherboard?

Run your hard disks on the motherboard's IDE port and your DVD drive on the controller card. The reason being is that the motherboard's IDE port is part of the southbridge and is not constrained by the limited bandwidth of the PCI bus like that controller card will be. Throw your "slow" DVD drive on there and it won't notice the 33mb/s bandwidth limit of the PCI bus.

According to wikipedia, and the RocketRaid 1740 in my system, PCI can transfer faster than 33mb/s. ;)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peripheral_Component_Interconnect
 
For 32-bit 33Mhz PCI, the transfer rate is 133MB/s, IIRC. Though, thats shared throughout the entire bus.
 
133mbs, sounds much better haha, since I am not raiding them and nothing else is connected on PCI, it should be within spec :) for JBOD, Non Raid.

Thanks for all the info guys :), only wish alot of you were around in real life, so I could bug you, as I'd love to learn first hand DOS, and what the pre Pentium days were like. My first PC was a pentium II, 333 mhz ;). And I feel pretty old school, heh pre internet boom, but don't feel old, feel knowledgeable.
 
Ahh yes... 133mb/s!

Good save!

That folks, is what happens when old age really starts kicking in. :D



Do you really use a 240 res display :), thats real bawler stuff. Wish I had some of that stuff around to play with, and learn.

I do have a 14" Packard Bell monitor in the basement who's sweet spot is 800x600, but will do an amazing 1024x768 with a nice 60hz eye numbing refresh rate.
 
Ahh yes... 133mb/s!

Good save!

That folks, is what happens when old age really starts kicking in. :D





I do have a 14" Packard Bell monitor in the basement who's sweet spot is 800x600, but will do an amazing 1024x768 with a nice 60hz eye numbing refresh rate.
Heh yea I remember seeing those ;).

I just reread your sig, and finally the Qualcom CPU and res make sense, hehe hurray for mobile (Cell) computers, for a second thought that was your desktop.

Interesting how our Blackberries and Iphones etc, are now matching specs with "previous" PC's. Heh!
 
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