How to connect ATA/100 hard drive to ABIT KT7-RAID (Highpoint Controller)?

[WAZ]

Ok, I thought I understood this stuff, but now I find myself confused and disoriented (without the alcohol this time).

Right now I have a 10-GB hard drive (master) and 5-GB (slave) connected to my ABIT KT7-RAID's IDE 2 connector... the drives are older (1998-1999), so I assume they're ATA/33 or something. Anyway, I then have my CD-ROM drives (CD-RW master and DVD slave) connected to the IDE 1 connector. I believe that's how everything is supposed to be, as I've ALWAYS had it like this and everything's always worked fine. I don't use the RAID features (for 2+ hard drives), so I have the ATA/100 RAID IDE Controller disabled in the KT7's BIOS.

Now, enter new ATA/100 hard drive.

It is REPLACING my old hard drives -- not going in in addition (i.e. to use RAID features) -- so I will just have one ATA/100 hard drive, plus my two CD-ROM drives.

So how do I connect the new hard drive to use ATA/100? Does it just go back into the IDE 2 slot where the old hard drives were connected? Or do I leave the IDE 2 slot empty and put the new hard drive on IDE 3 or 4? (IDE 3 and 4 are the KT7-RAID-specific available connectors -- but I can't figure out whether they are supposed to be used for MULTIPLE hard drives in a RAID setup, or if I can just use them to plug in my ONE ATA/100 hard drive).

I assume I would then also have to enable the ATA/100 RAID IDE Controller in the BIOS? And would I still keep my CD-ROMs in IDE 1?

Any clarification/instructional help would be much appreciated. Thanks!

 

[Woody419]

Well, actually the hdd's go on IDE 1 and the CD-RW goes on IDE 2, it is less confusing for anyone working on your computer or helping out because every does it this way. Change the BIOS so the first boot device is the floppy, second is IDE 1, then procede:

Option #1
Put new hdd on IDE 1, the other two hdd's as master/slave on one of the RAID slots, nothing else has to be done. Boot with supplied Maxtor floppy if you bought a Maxtor and clone the old master to the new ATA100. Reboot and play.

Option #2
Same as above but use cloning software like Drive Image to clone old drive to new ATA100.

 

[Yaotl]

ide 1 doesn't support ata100, only the raid controller. just hook it up to the raid controller, enable it in the bios, and have it boot from that controller. you can use one hdd on the raid controller just fine, but open up the highpoint bios screen to make sure it's running at udma5 or whatever that number is.

 

[Woody419]

The speed difference between ATA66 and ATA100 is something to consider, but nothing to get concerned about. I have never been able to get the Highpoint controller to work correctly as a boot, just moving a working disk from IDE 1 or cloning the OS to a new disk that is on the Highpoint controller does not always work. It is recommended to do a format and the installation of the OS while the hdd is connected to the Highpoint controller. I have so many cards, software, and programs installed that I am unwilling to start from scratch just to get the marginal increase in speed that ATA100 has to offer.

 

[MichaelD]

Originally posted by: Yaotl
ide 1 doesn't support ata100, only the raid controller. just hook it up to the raid controller, enable it in the bios, and have it boot from that controller. you can use one hdd on the raid controller just fine, but open up the highpoint bios screen to make sure it's running at udma5 or whatever that number is.

Yes. Ensure you have the HPT controller enabled in the bios. Reboot with the drive hooked up. You'll post, then see the HPT bios posting and it says "Hit CTRL-H to enter bios" do that. You can figure it out from there. You'll enable that drive as boot (if you want it to be) and you'll also check to ensure that is says "UDMA 5".

I have a KT7-R in my server and it automatically set itself to UDMA 5 w/my ATA100 drive hooked up to it.

A side note: The latest bios for the KT7R is called "7N" and is very stable. I almost chose NOT to flash it but I"m glad I did. THe board was stable before, but now it's just a rock.

 

[WAZ]

Cool, thanks for the replies guys. Upon reading your advice and doing some extra research around the web (that KT7 FAQ is amazing! ), I think I've got it ready to go. I'll, leave CD-ROMs on IDE1 and/or 2 (it was suggested to try putting each as a Master on IDE 1 AND 2 instead of Master-Slave on just IDE 1), and stick my new HDD on IDE 3 (on the highpoint controller), enable the highpoint controller in the BIOS, and set the ATA100RAID to boot. Sounds easy enough -- here's hoping I don't screw something up in the process.

Thanks again for the help.