my pc already has two IDE hard drives. can I add a Serial ATA drive?

[anthonysw1]

I have tried searching these forums and using Google, but I couldn't find any information on whether you can take a computer whose motherboard has connectors for both IDE and Serial ATA (as mine does) and hook up IDE drives and Serial ATA drives at the same time.

The reason I want to do this is that I'm I'd like to add capacity without getting rid of either of my IDE drives.

The motherboard I'm using is a Chaintech VNF3-250

 

[BlueWeasel]

I know very little about SATA, but if each is on it's only controller, I don't see why you couldn't.

Is is possible to enable/disable both the IDE and SATA controllers individually in the BIOS, or must you select between the IDE or SATA?

 

[Zelmo3]

You can use all of the connectors at once. I've been using two SATA drives and two IDE drives for almost a year and it works almost as easily as using only IDE. You just need to be sure the SATA controller is enabled in BIOS and you have drivers for your OS.

 

[anthonysw1]

Thanks for posting, BlueWeasel. I need a new handle/nickname; anthonysw1 is so boring.

Hmm, I didn't realize it could be a BIOS issue. Unfortunately, I can't look at my BIOS right now because I'm at the office and my computer is at home.

When I get home I'll take a look at the menus in the BIOS and find out for myself whether my motherboard allows both the IDE and the Serial ATA to be turned on at the same time. I agree with you that it might be an either/or situation, which would be a bummer.

I'll make sure to post a reply when I find out.

 

[anthonysw1]

Originally posted by: Zelmo3
You can use all of the connectors at once. I've been using two SATA drives and two IDE drives for almost a year and it works almost as easily as using only IDE. You just need to be sure the SATA controller is enabled in BIOS and you have drivers for your OS.

Yay! That's great! I was hoping that someone on the forums was already successfully using the configuration that we're talking about. So as long as my BIOS allows it (which I will be able to determine on my own), I should be good to go. Thanks!

 

[wilrab]

I was trying to do the same thing. I have two IDE hard drives conneced and a IDE CDRW and DVDR hooked up. I bought a Serial ATA drive and could not find any information anywhere if they would play well together. I hooked it up last night and XP picked it right up. I could not see the drive in My Computer though. I rebooted and went into the BIOS and it looks like to use them together I would have to remove one of the IDE drives and the serial drive would take it's place. I did not test this yet because if I am going to remove one of the drives I need to back up the stuff on the smaller drive first.

If anyone knows a way around this I would really appreciate the advice. I would like to use them all together if possible.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Zelmo3]

Did you format the drive?

 

[wilrab]

Ahh good point, I didn't. I will try that and report back. Thanks.

 

[wilrab]

I could not get the drive recognized to format it. I went to the BIOS and set the drive to manual and set it to SATA 0 and upon bootup it recognizes the drive. You can also see the drive in device manager but not in My Computer.

I tried Fdisk and PQMagic but neither see the drive. Not really sure where to go from here.

 

[Ioo]

Make sure you have the SATA drivers for your motherboard installed.

If you do have the drivers installed, then you need to go into the Control Panel -> Administrative Tools - > Disk Manegment

There you can set the drive letter and get the drive partitioned and formatted.

 

[wilrab]

Cool thanks. I will try that when I get home tonight.

 

[wilrab]

I updated my BIOS last night and then was able to see it in disk management. It is now formatted and working great in conjunction with my IDE drives. Thanks Zelmo and Ioo for the advice.