Newbie adding 3rd HDD

[chiyoaiki]

Sorry for a very newbie question. This is a first time I'm trying to upgrade a PC myself.

I currently have 2 PATA hard drives, 120GB (with Windows XP) and 80GB, a DVD-ROM and a RVR-RW. I'm planning to take the DVD-ROM out and put in a PATA 250GB hard drive.

My qeuestions are:

1. What is the best setting (bios and physical set up)? I'll constantly need to burn files from all 3 hard drives.

2. How can I hold the 3rd hard drive in place? The hard drive rail that I'm currently using can only holds 2 hard drives. I do have another spare rail which also can hold 2 hard drives but how can I put it into the case?

3. Will I need to get new power supply, extra fan, etc.?

Thank you.

[Forum Troll]

Another option: add a Serial ATA card:
and put a new SATA drive in a 5.25 bay with some drive rails:

[redwudz]

I would agree with Forum Troll's suggestion as the best solution and keep your DVD-ROM. Or you could also use a PCI IDE controller if you want to stick to IDE HDs. You can use the rails as he mentions or fit it into the floppy bay if there's room.

You didn't say how big your power supply is, so it's hard to guess if it's sufficient. If you switch a HD for a DVD-ROM, about the same power draw. I would go for a 350-400W PS. If you have a 250W, that's too small anyway.

If your cooling is marginal at present, add another fan. A front intake fan blowing over the HDs, if you don't have one, would be the most effective. A large HD puts out a lot of heat.

[chiyoaiki]

Thanks.

Forum Troll: Why do I need Serial ATA card? All three hard drives are PATA.

If I take DVD-ROM out (as I've never used it) and put a new 250GB HDD in. Should I make the hard drive or the DVD-RW master?

Is it better to have 3 hard drives next to each others and DVD-RW above them or 1 hard drive then the DVD-RW then 2 hard drives (in order from top to bottom).

The drive rail that I have is different from your picture. It is the one the you put hard drive in, it is more like a holder. Perhaps I called it wrongly, I didn't know the proper word for it. Can I use that or I will have to get ones like the picture you show me?

Thanks.

[Prot]

Serial ATA has a faster data transfer rate than current PATA drives. I would keep the DVD-ROM drive to use for reading disks, and only use the burner for burning.

Still another option would be to ad an external drive. If you have USB 2.0 or firewire you should be fine. Just make sure it's the only device on that port.

[chiyoaiki]

I'm trying to keep the cost to minimal that why I bought a new PATA drive instead of a SATA to avoid having to buy a SATA card.

As I said, I've never used the dvd-rom so I'm more than happy to take it out and put the new hard drive in instead. But I'm not sure whether I should set the hard drive or the dvd-rw to be the master.

How to find out if I will need another fan or not? Also how do I install it?

I also thought about having it as an external drive but I was concerned about the transfer rate as I will use the drive to store large files which I will constantly have to burn them to dvd.

Thanks.

[pfh]

You'll be fine then- set new HD as slave and use rails like the forum troll's picture.

[Prot]

Sorry to disagree, but the hard drive should always be the master.
This is from my A+ hardware book.

[normcar]

Does your A+ say why?

[Prot]

I didn't say why specifically, but I believe it is because the master should be the device that has that fastest data transfer rate.

<If my icon does not appear, it is because I am not on my home computer>

[cerealkiller9]

Either get rid of the optical drive or get a Promise IDE controller card because you don't want to have a hard drive and optical drive on the same IDE channel.

If you hard drive is ATA/100 and your optical drive is ATA/33, then your hard drive will run at ATA/33. BOTH devices always run at the SLOWEST speed of whatever is connected to the same IDE channel.

I also agree with whoever said to set the hard drive to Master. That is, if you don't ditch the optical drive altogether.