Drive configs

[zworg2]

K

I have 2 HDD, a burner and a DVD player & a floppy drive in my PC

Is it possible to get more drives in it?

thx

[redwudz]

You may have to use a PCI IDE controller card, but you can add as many as your power supply and case can handle.

EDIT: Most motherboards are set up for 4 IDE devices and 2 Fdd. (Floppy's)

My motherboard has 4 PATA (IDE), 4 SATA and a add on PCI controller card for 2 more PATA drives.

I use 3 SATA, one PATA HDs. A DVD burner, CD burner, DVD-ROM and a Zip drive. No floppy. I also use a 480W PS to run it all in a tower case.

[zworg2]

You may have to use a PCI IDE controller card, but you can add as many as your power supply and case can handle.

EDIT: Most motherboards are set up for 4 IDE devices and 2 Fdd. (Floppy's)

My motherboard has 4 PATA (IDE), 4 SATA and a add on PCI controller card for 2 more PATA drives.

I use 3 SATA, one PATA HDs. A DVD burner, CD burner, DVD-ROM and a Zip drive. No floppy. I also use a 480W PS to run it all in a tower case.

I read this once - it made complete sense

I have read it a second time (having discovered the difference between SATA and PATA) - and now i am confused.

I have 2 HDD, a burner and a DVD player & a floppy drive in my PC

What i want to do is add another HDD (IDE)
Do these only come in the PATA variety?
and do the PCI controller cards only come in the PATA variety?

Also in my confusion i think i read somewhere that SATA and PATA use different style cables?

please can you advise me of what i need?

thx in advance

[e404pnf]

Yes, IDE hard drives are all PATA.

You're motherboard will probably support 4 IDE device, all of which are in use at the moment (2x HDD, 1x DVD-ROM & 1x DVD-RW). In order to add a third HDD you will therefore need to add a PCI Controller card of some description - PATA or SATA, depending on the HDD you decide to buy.

Personally I would go with a SATA, why buy older technology (PATA) when SATA is available. The main advantage between PATA and SATA is the data tranfer rate, but to be honest you'll not see a real difference unless you get a 10k rpm drive (but they cost a small fortune & even then I doubt you'd see any significant speed differences)

The real advantages come from the different cables you mentioned. SATA uses smaller rounded cables which allows better air flow through your case, also I think SATA drives use less power so generate less heat (although that could be complete bollocks!). Your PSU may not have SATA power cables but for about £1 you can buy SATA->PATA power adaptors. Or on my Maxtor HDD it actually had both the new SATA and standard PATA power inputs.

For me the real selling point for SATA drives is that they are hot swapable - just like USB or Firewire! (probably not a good idea if it has your OS on there though )

Its also worth noting that, here in the UK anyway, SATA drives are actually cheaper than PATA/IDE drives

So all you'll need is:
* a free PCI slot on motherboard
* PCI controller card (SATA or PATA)
* a corresponding HDD
* if SATA maybe a power adaptor

From this I guess you've realised I'd go for a the SATA, but that's only one persons opinion.

-e404pnf

EDIT: As redwudz said though you will also need to ensure you have sufficient power coming from your PSU. redwudz gave you his specs, for reference I have a SATA HDD, IDE HDD, Zip-100 drive, DVD-ROM, DVD-RW and Floppy drive powered from a 420w PSU.

[ViRaL1]

Yes, IDE hard drives are all PATA.

When did SATA drives become no longer IDE?

[redwudz]

I guess it would be better to say they are two types of ATA devices that are part of the IDE specification.

The naming seems to have gotten complicated when SATA came into common use, with some confusion assuming we are talking about 3 different drive types, IDE, SATA, PATA. I have been guilty of using the IDE term loosely in the past also.

Maybe this will help a little:http://computing-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/IDE

And to add to all this:

The SATA drives I have used seem to be the same as a PATA drive, with just the controller and plugs being different. They are usually 150MHz data transfer compared to 133MHz PATA drives. There is little or no speed increase apparent. But I think that is a problem more with the computer than the drive. And now SATA2 is now out with 300Mhz drives.

There are also SATA DVD burners out. No speed increase, but the smaller cables would be nice.

They are becoming cheaper, but the big bonus is much smaller data cables. For power, most of the drives I have seen use the regular Molex 4 pin power connector, or have both connectors or have an adapter included if they use the smaller and more fragile SATA power connector.

But, if needed, adapters are easy to find. Many new power supplies have the connectors already. There is some thought of combining the data cable and the power cable together, as SATA drives seem to use less power. They would then get power off the MB. Which would really clean up the cabling in the computer.

If you need to use a PCI IDE controller, determine what you want to use it for. There are SATA and PATA most commonly. PATA controllers come in different speeds and types. Mostly 100MHz and 133MHz these days.

If you want to use slower devices with a PCI controller such as a DVD, CD drives which are 33MHz or 66MHz devices, you need a controller that can operate at those speeds.

A 133MHz only controller will not operate a DVD or CD drive, AFAIK. Make sure the controller will work at those lower speeds if you intend to use one on it. I have a Promise Ultra133 TX2 that works for DVD and harddrives.

Most controllers seem to have their own BIOS and are really plug and play. Unless you are using them for booting, you can usually just let the OS take care of them.

[zworg2]

k, now i am slighlty less confused!

i already have the drive i want to add into the case.

Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 9 80Gb ATA/133 HDD 3.5 Series

I am guessing that that is a PATA?
(would you expect the card to come with cable? i pretty sure i have spare lying around)

I have spare PCI slot in case.

I onlky have 215W power supply.

Do you think this is sufficient for the 3 HDD, 2 Optical one Floppy that i want to run off of it?

thx for all the help

[edDV]

Here is a selection of expansion PCI disk controller cards

http://www.promise.com/product/segment_lv2list.asp?segment=Non-RAID%20HBAs

minimum you need is
http://www.promise.com/product/product_detail_eng.asp?segment=Non-RAID%20HBAs&product_id=87

With this you could add 4 new PATA drives.

check ebay

[edDV]

watch for power overload

[redwudz]

What edDV said. The PS is a little small. If there is a lot of heat coming out of it now, I would be considering a larger power supply. (Hot like a hair dryer. ) However, if it's running just warm, you may be OK.

Most drives come with a cable, except OEM models that may just be the bare drive. Usually if it's in a box, it comes with cables and a setup or diagnostic disc.

EDIT: Sorry, misread the part about the card and cables. The PCI cards should come with cables.

[zworg2]

What edDV said. The PS is a little small. If there is a lot of heat coming out of it now, I would be considering a larger power supply. (Hot like a hair dryer. ) However, if it's running just warm, you may be OK.

thats promising, because it is barely even warm...
most of it is cool to touch except one corener that could be considered warm (ish)
i do have 1 intake and two exhaust fans in the case.....

thx

[edDV]

What edDV said. The PS is a little small. If there is a lot of heat coming out of it now, I would be considering a larger power supply. (Hot like a hair dryer. ) However, if it's running just warm, you may be OK.

thats promising, because it is barely even warm...
most of it is cool to touch except one corener that could be considered warm (ish)
i do have 1 intake and two exhaust fans in the case.....

thx

When you have multiple HDD the problem is startup amp draw on the power supply when all the drives spin up at the same time. They don't draw much power once spun up. I'm not sure if Promise sequence starts the drives, but it should.

[redwudz]

I've some cheap PSs rated at 300W that smelled like burning plastic and put out a whole lot of heat, then 250W rated PSs with the same load just with lukewarm air coming out of them. Quality does count.

I figure if they run relatively cool, they aren't stressed.