3 HDD and 3 Optical?

[JE78]

I have an extra hard drive sitting around and an extra CD-RW. I don't really need to put them in my computer but is there a way I could? Right now I have 2 HDD and 2 DVD drives on the primary and secondary IDE cables. Can I get a PCI card like thisthis and hook them up to it? Or would I have to get 2 PCI cards? Thanks.

 

[ZL1]

one pci card should allow 4 more drives for a total of 8 (opti or hdds)


D

 

[JE78]

Thanks. Do you know if it would require any extensive setup? Like I said, I don't really need it, but would like to have them in there if its not too much trouble.

 

[ZL1]

Originally posted by: JE78
Thanks. Do you know if it would require any extensive setup? Like I said, I don't really need it, but would like to have them in there if its not too much trouble.

nope

add card, boot into windows, install drivers, shut down, connect new stuff to new card, power on


D

 

[JE78]

Thanks, much appreciated. Is there a card you prefer? There are to that i've been looking at.

http://www.newegg.com/app/View...tion=15-124-001&depa=0

and

http://www.newegg.com/app/View...tion=15-104-214&depa=0

I don't really know much about these so if you have any suggestions let me know. Thanks.

 

[farmercal]

Dude a controller card is just controller card. I bought a cheap $35 SCSI controller card for SCSI drives and it works just as good as the $135 cards I was looking at. That card you listed is cheap and should do the job.

 

[ZL1]

Originally posted by: JE78
Thanks, much appreciated. Is there a card you prefer? There are to that i've been looking at.

http://www.newegg.com/app/View...tion=15-124-001&depa=0

and

http://www.newegg.com/app/View...tion=15-104-214&depa=0

I don't really know much about these so if you have any suggestions let me know. Thanks.

you are welcome
sorry I dont have experience with either one
but if you dont plan to have any important data on that 3rd hdd Id say go with either one
or put the 3rd hdd on your secondary controller and put two opticals on the extra card (Id put the readers)

D

 

[JE78]

Thanks for the input guys.

 

[ZL1]

Originally posted by: JE78
Thanks for the input guys.

you're welcome, good luck with the project



D

 

[VirtualLarry]

Modern RAID-ish IDE controller cards don't often like to have ATAPI devices (opticals) hooked up to them.
My current rig has three HDs on a Promise Ultra100 TX2, and four opticals on the mobo's IDE ports, using the standard MS drivers. I highly reccomend a setup like that. I've also heard tell that CMD0649/0680 PCI IDE (non-RAID) controller cards will also supposedly handle ATAPI device correctly, but the last Promise card to do so was the Ultra66, with older drivers.

There's always the external USB/Firewire angle too.

 

[JustAnAverageGuy]

You might also consider this Promise controller.

Their drivers come on a floppy so that if you ever need to install Windows onto a HDD connected to it, you can without having to find the right ones and do it yourself

 

[JE78]

Thanks Larry. The other CD-RW doesn't need to be connected but I have it so why not. Thanks again for the suggestions. By the way, what are some CMD0649/0680 PCI IDE (non-RAID) controller cards?

 

[IamTHEsnake]

But won't bandwidth be limiting for the HD and/or the Optical drive? I mean it is PCI.

 

[stevty2889]

You do have a big enough quality PSU to power these extra drives right?

 

[RadiclDreamer]

Originally posted by: JustAnAverageGuy
You might also consider this Promise controller.

Their drivers come on a floppy so that if you ever need to install Windows onto a HDD connected to it, you can without having to find the right ones and do it yourself

I agree, controller cards arent just controller cards, some have much better performance than others. While you may not need the extra performance, why not pay the few bucks more and get it?

 

[RadiclDreamer]

Originally posted by: IamTHEsnake
But won't bandwidth be limiting for the HD and/or the Optical drive? I mean it is PCI.

PCI handles more than enough data for a hard drive or optical drive

 

[JE78]

I just got an Ernemax 480 watt PSU so i'm pretty sure I have enough juice. If I get one I'll get the Promise controller, I just hope it will be ok with a opticle drive on it.

 

[JustAnAverageGuy]

Je78

I've got the Ultra133 TX2 version. They're basically the same card with different numbers. (You can even flash the BIOS to upgrade it... free)

It handles two extra HDDs and an optical quite well.

Motherboard:
Primary:
- 80GB HDD
- 30GB HDD
Secondary:
- DVD-RW
- DVD-RW
Controller
Primary
- 120GB HDD
- 20GB HDD/Nothing (Removed)
Secondary
- CD-RW
- Nothing

You can use the floppy straight from the box for a Windows XP install. No need to extract the drivers off a CD and use your own.

It also comes with 9x, 2k, and 2k3 drivers

 

[JE78]

Cool, thanks alot.