Shoutbox

So.. Here's how my system is set-up :

• Primary IDE
  
  • CD-RW Drive
    
    • - DVD-RW Drive
• Secondary IDE
  
  • Hard Drive C:\
    
    • Hard Drive D:\

My motherboard has no extra IDE Slots, so, right now I want to add another Hard Drive.. How can I do that ?

Thanks

You can buy a controller card.

Thanks YottabyteWizard. By the way, can anyone point me some good brands for these ? Oh and some good PCI models too.. Thanks

Or use SATA if there are SATA slots available on your mobo, I know mine has, 2 IDE slots, and 2 SATA slots, so I can have in total 6 devices without controller cards.

But if you do buy a controller card you can choose out of SCSI, SATA and IDE, I would choose SATA if I were you. Costs maybe a bit more, but SATA is much faster and generally better, cause it's like IDE version 2 , also SCSI is mostly for high-end server systems.

quote:

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Originally posted by Johny
can anyone point me some good brands for these ?

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The top name in basic ATA controller cards is Promise.  Here are some cards you could consider:

• parallel ATA / EIDE
  
• serial ATA
  
• both on one card

Adaptec probably makes some as well.  Since these cards are not very expensive to start with and reliability, compatibility are critical for a storage controller (if you value your data!), I wouldn't go no-name bargain shopping for this one.

If you haven't yet purchased the drive you plan to add, go with serial ATA as Ezra suggested.  It still makes little or no difference in performance for most drives, but they cost the same and parallel ATA will eventually become extinct. 

If your mobo has SATA slots, then use them. SATA is faster and you wont have to mess around with your IDE Setup

Also using SATA drives depends on the power supply. If you're going to make the switch to SATA be sure you have the right connections from the power supply.... Unless you buy a Hard Drive wich supports both kind of power connections, but I've not seen any around here..


IDE/ATA power connector


SATA connector.

quote:

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Originally posted by YottabyteWIzard
Also using SATA drives depends on the power supply. If you're going to make the switch to SATA be sure you have the right connections from the power supply.... Unless you buy a Hard Drive wich supports both kind of power connections, but I've not seen any around here..


IDE/ATA power connector


SATA connector.

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There are IDE>SATA adapters.

quote:

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Originally posted by Johny
So.. Here's how my system is set-up :

• Primary IDE
  
  • CD-RW Drive
    
    • - DVD-RW Drive
• Secondary IDE
  
  • Hard Drive C:\
    
    • Hard Drive D:\

---

Just FYI, you should keep your HDs (the first two at least) on the primary channel.

I have an IDE-SATA adapter for my Power Supply, came with the harddrive. works fine.