Is it possible to install 4 hard-drives on a motherboard??

[Grommet5]

I'm thinking of installing extra hard drives for storage and NOT raid. what would i need in terms of harddware. Please list some intel or amd hardware suggestions.

 

[AndyHui]

All current chipsets come with 2 IDE ports for a total of 4 IDE devices, so you can automatically have 4 hard drives with any system.

If you want to add more IDE devices like CDROMs, simply add a PCI ATA Controller.

 

[Grommet5]

thanks for the info, andy.

 

[Ausm]

The Soyo dragon plus uses the onboard promise controller which can be configured as a Raid setup or just a plain ATA Controller....I am going this route but I am using the new gigabyte mobo with the KT333 chipset

Ausm

 

[nortexoid]

"all" mobos come w/ two IDE channels...you can hook 2 drives per IDE channel (one as master, the other as slave)...teh first IDE channel is referred to as primary, the second - obviously - secondary...so if you have one IDE drive (which could be a CDROM/CDRW/HDD/etc.) hooked up, it should be primary master...hook the next drive up as secondary master...then primary slave, and secondary slave...

if you have an IDE drive that isn't an HDD, then you're gonna need an extra IDE controller card...RAID or not...some mobos have these built right into the board...

note: not ALL RAID controller cards (i.e. some integrated ones) can be used as non-RAID IDE channels.

 

[Jman13]

Like everyone has said here, it is very easy. You simply need to add a PCI controller card, such as the Promise Ultra 100 or the like. As ausm says, the Soyo Dragon Plus has 4 channels for a total of 8 IDE devices. I have this mobo, and I'm currently running 3 7200RPM HDDs, a DVD-ROM, a CD-RW, and an IDE Zip drive off it. 2 ports left!

 

[Ausm]

<< "all" mobos come w/ two IDE channels...you can hook 2 drives per IDE channel (one as master, the other as slave)...teh first IDE channel is referred to as primary, the second - obviously - secondary...so if you have one IDE drive (which could be a CDROM/CDRW/HDD/etc.) hooked up, it should be primary master...hook the next drive up as secondary master...then primary slave, and secondary slave... if you have an IDE drive that isn't an HDD, then you're gonna need an extra IDE controller card...RAID or not...some mobos have these built right into the board... note: not ALL RAID controller cards (i.e. some integrated ones) can be used as non-RAID IDE channels. >>



Any mobo using the highpoint controller you are SOL if you want plain IDE Channels and *some* of the mobos using the Promise controller support this feature.

Ausm