controller help

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Ok, with the wonders of the modern world (cable modem) I have managed to fill my 40 gig HDD with movies. At the time I bought my system 40 gigs seemed like a warehouse.

Ok, I have 3 optical drives that I'm using (DVD,burner,and 52x cd rom with remote) that I don't want to get rid of. I was thinking about getting an 80 gig HDD (possibly a maxtor 5400 if it goes on sale again) but then remembered my IDEs were full.

I figured out I need a controller card to plug into my board to get some more IDE spaces. I'm wondering what kind to get though. I'm going to be installing it on a new system I'm building with an ECSK7S5A and want to know whats a pretty good controller thats going to allow me to keep using my onboard IDEs but doesn't cost very much.

I don't want to mess with RAID or anything like that btw, I just need more space. One more thing too, If i get a controller, I can but whatever I want into it (not just HDDs) right? and if so, would it be a good idea to but my 2 HDDs on the masters of my onboard IDEs and then put my opticals on whatevers left?

Thanks a lot for your help.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

help *sniff sniff

 

[So]

Though I haven't personally owned one, everyone around here seems to like the promise controllers...

Let's take a little field trip to NEWEGG....

...ah, here we are....

Promise Controllers



<< PROMISE ULTRA100TX2 CONTROLLER CARD - OEM 2 Channel IDE Supports UDMA 33/66/100 - Model#: ULTRA100TX2 FedEx Saver Shipping $10.00 >>

- $22.00

Looks good. If you want ATA-133 support, newegg seems to be out, so check mwave or the like.

Hope that didn't seem too condescending, it wasnt intended to be, I am just trying to be humorous, and I am quite tired at the moment

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Thanks, but I can't seem to find the controller on newegg. I can find their $72 raid version just fine, but can't seem to find this one, which is exactly what I want (after doing some more research).

Am I just stupid or something?

Another link would be great if someone could help me out.

 

[eplebnista]

The Promise Ultra100 from this page at Mwave.com is in stock and is $23+S&H(white box). It looks like Newegg has removed it from their listings recently. According to the info available, you should be able to use it the way you described above. The Raid version(FastTrack100) is for Hard Drives only though. For ~$12 more you could get the Ultra133 version. From what I read at the Promise site, you may have to use 40 pin, 40 conductor cables in order to use drives other than Hard Drives on the controller card, as a 40 pin, 80 conductor cable will make the card look for a Hard Drive upon boot up of the computer and it will give an error. It is an issue that is well documented in Promise's FAQ pages.

My $.02,
eplebnista

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Thanks for the help eplebnista, I was going crazy on newegg trying to find out where it was. I'll check out mwave now

 

[Anubis]

i have this one ULTRA100TX2 and im runnin my Burner and DVD off of it. each on a diff channel and my HDs off the mobo. this way i can burn on the fly at 16x+ its been workin firn for me. i did have some trouble tryin to get my HDs to run off of it so i just kept them on the mobo. but for what you want it for just take one of teh Cdroms and stick it on there and the new HD on teh mobo and you should be fine

 

[Challenger]

One thing to think about is Maxtor with some of thier bigger harddrives give away ATA controllers right in the box