Add a third HDD

[Blazey]

Hi all,

Sorry for such a NOOB pc question, but what would I need to buy in order to add a third internal HDD to my system? Right now I have 2 (master/slave) but there are no other IDE connections available. It does support SATA. Can I add an SATA drive to the system just by plugging into the mobo? Is there a PCI card to add more IDE channels to the mobo to add a standard HDD? I realize I'd need to buy a new case with more drive bays to accomidate the drive. Also, how do I determine how many watts the power supply is and whether or not I need a new one?

Thanks.

[Capmaster]

Most MBs support four devices on the IDE ....two for the primary channel and two for the secondary. You might need a cable, but there should be two IDE connectors on the motherboard very near to each other. Trace back the existing one and look for an unused connector that's the same size. That's probably it. And IDE cables are dirt cheap.

If your MB also supports SATA, there will be a smaller connector as well. This will probably need enabling in the BIOS before it's active.

And you might want to upgrade your PS to 350 - 400W if you're running that many HDs

[gooberguy]

There is also a PCI device that lets u connect more ide devices. YOu might want to google serch on it because i dont know the name of the thing.

[Cobra]

http://www.usb-ware.com/4-port-serial-ata-pci-card.htm

Something like this would help you out.

EDIT - If you want more ATA133 ports, you can get similar cards. It is possible to mix ATA133 and SATA drives on some motherboards - make sure this is the case before you buy!

A 300/350W power supply should suffice for an average PC with a few hard drives in it, but I would personally use a 400W or better supply. Ensure you have a good supply too - cheap ones with high ratings are often not as powerful as high-quality drives with lower ratings.

[Blazey]

Thanks everyone! I'm off to destroy, er, I mean upgrade my machine!

@Cobra,

In your overclocking guides, if my bios doesn't offer the clock change, I can't do it, right? I'm on 2 stock Dell machines with Intel MB and Chips.

[Cobra]

Blazey,

Sorry - I used to have a Dell machine and there was no option in BIOS. You might just be able to overclock it from Windows, but those utilities tend to be less accurate and must be loaded before the overclock takes place. I didn't manage anything with my old Dell. It was a Dimension 8-something, 1.5GHz P4.

Otherwise, you may be able to find a hacked BIOS image, but again I wouldn't reccommend using that in case it does more harm than good.

I'm no overclocking guru, just done it to a few machines and was hoping to get some more people started. By all means, don't listen to what I've just said and research it yourself - you may strike gold!

Good luck,

Cobra

[glockjs]

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=16-102-007&depa=0

this is the card i used before i ripped my 3rd hdd out of my puter to build another tower. works pretty good. it's not know for it's speed but overall being a solid card.

[troyvcd1]

So to clerify this. If I already have 2 hdd and 2 dvd drives I can install this card and just slap in another hdd. Would this work on an older motherboard that is used on a p3 800 machine. Is this new HDD goi9ng to work as fast as my other drives and am I going to be able to capture video with this new hdd.

[glockjs]

So to clerify this. If I already have 2 hdd and 2 dvd drives I can install this card and just slap in another hdd. Would this work on an older motherboard that is used on a p3 800 machine. Is this new HDD goi9ng to work as fast as my other drives and am I going to be able to capture video with this new hdd.

yeah, you can add 4 more drives if you wanted to with that card. yes it will work with your p3. i wouldnt say as fast, buy you are not going to notice a difference. yes, capture as much video as u want with it.

[Blazey]

@ Everybody again,

Thanks!

@glockjs Good link, thanks much.

@ Cobra -

What about Speedfans clock change capability? I need some more infor about the system (that I don't have) but it looks like an option to start.

(Is it OK to hijack my own thread?)