IDE Controller Card

[maveric4001]

Hi Lordsmurf,

So if the promise TX2 is not great for burning and all round card, please advise of some that do work well.

Thanks M8

[luvvbuzz]

Hi i have an ata133 ide card which i havent installed yet as im too scared too,lol. basiically i dont want to have my system screwed up, i have installed many upgrades on my computer in the past, memory, numerous tv cards, sound card etc, but this one worries me somewhat. the one thing i cant understand is wether or not i can put optical drives on the controller, there is so much conflicting advice around about this. i have 1 dvd burner, 1 dvd rom, i cdrw, 2 hard drives. currently my dvd rom is not installed as i want to install the ide controller first, but i just dont know which drives to put on the controller. the only advice that i have had from various people that seems consistent is that i should leave the boot hard drive on the motherboard primary ide channel. other than that i dont know what i am supposed to do about it, its worrying.

[bluntman72]

Sorry to jump in late to this discussion...

I've read that the TX2 does not support optical drives, only hard drives. Anyway, I have a TX2 in my computer. On it I've attached my two Maxtor 160GB hard drives on the primary channel and two 40GB hard drives (one Maxtor and one WD) on the secondary channel. On the on-board IDE controllers on my mobo I've connected my DVD-ROM drive and my Yamaha F1 CDRW (both on the primary) and my DVD burner, alone, on the secondary.

Other than the slightly longer boot up time to Windows XP (due to the added BIOS on the controller card) everything works great.

[aero]

But if you have any plans to add another hard drive then I seen a lot of Western Digital drives come with a free controller card.

yeah, I am using a western digital 160gb drive with the free controller card and it works great.

FYI Western Digital stopped including controller cards as of October, meaning that wd 160, 200, 250 now hitting shelves do NOT have a card. this has nothing whatsover to do with the product number, etc, only the build date of the drive. ie if a pal bought a wd200jbrtl at thanksgiving and it came with a card, and you bought the same model, same prouct number, same sku, from same vendor at christmas...no card.

built before oct 10 has card, after has not. It ticks me off because there are many professional reviews as well as amatuer ones on amazon, various sites, and here saying a card comes bundled. they should have at least modified the product number.

FYI three months ago WD changed their warranty terms. you see a lot of reviews touting three year warranty. not so anymore. One year.

[luvvbuzz]

FYI Western Digital stopped including controller cards as of October, meaning that wd 160, 200, 250 now hitting shelves do NOT have a card. this has nothing whatsover to do with the product number, etc, only the build date of the drive. ie if a pal bought a wd200jbrtl at thanksgiving and it came with a card, and you bought the same model, same prouct number, same sku, from same vendor at christmas...no card.

built before oct 10 has card, after has not. It ticks me off because there are many professional reviews as well as amatuer ones on amazon, various sites, and here saying a card comes bundled. they should have at least modified the product number.

FYI three months ago WD changed their warranty terms. you see a lot of reviews touting three year warranty. not so anymore. One year.

its a bit rude to be saying things like FOR YOUR INFORMATION you know that comes across as being really rude.

[aero]

its a bit rude to be saying things like FOR YOUR INFORMATION you know that comes across as being really rude.

what a strange comment. FYI, it would be wrong to assume a term commonly used and with no perjorative or negative inflection, like "FYI," is rude everywhere, even though it may or may not be so in the UK. It would however be just rude to jump in on a topic and add nothing except a strange "driveby" that isn't true anyway.

[luvvbuzz]

FYI i dont care!

[duhmez]

I ahve 2 promise cards in my machine. 18" midtower. 6 hard drives inside, 1 DVD-RW drive, and 1 200 gig drive in external USB 2 enclosure. Dual athlon MP 2600+ and 1280 MB ram. 420 power supply handles it all nicely and the 2 promises + onboard IDE are working great.

[aero]

Sounds like a lot of space.

Just wanted to let everyone know that if they read here, or elsewhere, that a specific model of +137 WD comes with a card, that is no longer true. since a lot of brand price decision between various drives in the 160-250gig range amounts to 20 to $40, that is the price of a card as well.

also there may be some left with cards in stores (where you can look in the package); and an internet purchase when you will have no idea iof you are getting the card, and not be worth it if $25 cheaper.

[lordsmurf]

I use the Promise TX2 for a DVD-ROM (Pioneer) and it rips at full speeds just fine. The TX2 card DOES support any IDE device, not just HDs. It works great with HD's too. Just keep the burner on the motherboard controller. Put anything else you want on the TX2 card.

[Will Hay]

I too have the Maxtor controller card with the promise chip; works fine although at boot it can't find the connected HDD's and reports nothing connected.
Takes an age but all drives are fine once WinXP loads.

Good to hear from smurfie he has no issues with his (small-ish) PSU and all his drives/HDD's.
I'm considering replacing my aging Panasonic DVD-R/RAM x1 drive with a new Pioneer (is there a replacment for the AO6 coming? They're in short supply in the UK) but still keeping the DVD-R/RAM in there for backup/using the RAM disks.

I only have an Antec 340w PSU and...
1 x 30gb IBM drive primary master
1 x CDRW primary slave
1 x DVD-Rom secondary slave
1 x DVD-R/RAM secondary master
All on the motherboard and
2 x 160gb and 1 x 80gb (Maxtor) HDD's on the controller card.

What are people using for power leads when there's none left?
Just the standard power cable splitters?
Will

[gmatov]

Will,

That's about the only way to get extra connectors, using splitters. If you have 5 connectors, as a good PSu does, most have 4, you can have 10, and split again if need be, 11 to 15.

The Promise Web site faqs show that, I think, the 100 and maybe, Ultra 66, support optical drives. My 133 does not. SIIG also makes one that supports opticals. They go about 40 bucks in the stores. Have to see if they have them at the next show.

Do you have Computer Shows in Old Blighty?

Had Aidan here for my Christmas, today, the 7th. Have to shrink some pics for you. Hope the wife is doing better with the new baby. Best of luck with him/her. Have to reread, see if you told me what gender you're going to have.

Cheers,

George

[Will Hay]

Yeah, sure we have comp. shows, just nto my thing.
Generally full of acne
Little girl, due Mar 24th-ish, still struggling for names.
Little Dan, Danny, Daniel was always gonna be named such, not so with the new one.
Wife struggling with constant heartburn, indegestion and although okay now; hemoriods (sp?).

Getting nervous now, not long and don't feel prepared.
Dan still in his cot/crib, 2nd bedroom virtually ready for him to move into, maybe this weekend.
Will