Too many IDE?

[Motero]

I posted this in the Tech. Support Forum. I'm hoping to get a few other replies...



I have an LS-120 superdisk, IBM 45GB ata 100 hd, sony 48x cdrom, and a plextor 12/10/32 cdrw, all of which have IDE connections. If I want to run my hd at the ata 100 speed i know I cannot connect it to anything else. What should I do? I didn't realize the superdisk had an IDE connection.

 

[TimeKeeper]

get another controller card.
I think that is the cheapest option.

or you can get USB-to-IDE external convertor, that you can use either of your IDE device as external USB.

 

[Boonesmi]

yup i would go get a new controller card. you didnt mention if your motherboard supports ata100, but from what you said it sounds like thats the case. if your motherboard doesnt support ata100 then a new controller card with ata100 will be the way to go,

but... if your motherboard already supports ata100 then you can always get a cheap ata33 controller card for your cdrom or super disc (ata33 is faster then your cdrom so it wont hurt performance, but it is alot cheaper to buy, especially if you get one that doesnt have bios, so its not bootable.) ive seen those for less then $15

 

[bacillus]

I can only count 4 ide devices & you have connectors for them all!
you'll just have to have your burner & cd drive on one shared channel & your hdd & superdisk on the other. any other configuration with more than 2 masters will require a pci controller card!

 

[A2KLAU]

Controller card is the way forward I would say! Theya re cheap and will allow you to separate the devices up too if you get what I mean!

Albert.

 

[Motero]

Boonesmi
My motherboard does support ATA 100. I've never had a controller card before. How would I need to configure it so it would work like normal?
Why would I need a controller with a bios?

 

[Motero]

bacillus

I want my hd to run at ATA 100, so I know I need to have it run separate from the other devices because they don't run at that speed.

 

[bacillus]

<< I want my hd to run at ATA 100, so I know I need to have it run separate from the other devices because they don't run at that speed. >>


I'm afraid that you've been indoctrinated with an old concept!
with modern controllers, having an ata 100 hdd on the same channel with a hardware device of different rating will not degrade the hdd's performance ie the hdd will still work at udma5!

 

[HawkeyeColt]

Does you motherboard support ata 100? If so you don't need any controller cards added to your system. That myth about your faster HD only being able to run only at the speed of your slowest component is totally false now. You can run you ata100 HD as master and anyone of those drives you mention as your slave. No need to go out and buy a controller card unless your motherboard doesn't support ata100.

 

[HawkeyeColt]

bacillus,
You beat me to it.

 

[bacillus]

please accept my apologies HawkeyeColt!

 

[Motero]

So if I stick my harddrive on master on the ata 100 cable, and put my superdisk on the same cable, the harddrive will run at 100 and the superdisk will run at whatever speed it runs at...?

 

[Noriaki]

bacillus beat me to it to



<< So if I stick my harddrive on master on the ata 100 cable, and put my superdisk on the same cable, the harddrive will run at 100 and the superdisk will run at whatever speed it runs at...? >>

Yes it sure will. And especially since your IBM 75GXP can sustain about 37-38MB/s you have tons of room in the 100MB/s for the super disk.

 

[bacillus]

<< the harddrive will run at 100 and the superdisk will run at whatever speed it runs at...? >>


yes!

edit: well Noriaki you've beaten me here!

 

[Motero]

no card?

 

[bacillus]

<< no card? >>


you'll only need a controller card if you need to attach more ide devices or you want to reconfigure your present ide devices so that more of them can be masters!

 

[Motero]

WOOHOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!! I save money!!!!!! YEAH!!!

Thanks for the input everyone!

 

[Quickfingerz]

I have 4 ide devices as well but I use a controller card because i want my two hard drives on different channels so the other doesn't slow the other down.

 

[stingbandel]

Wait a minute, if his motherboard doesn't support ata 100 then the hdd will not run at 100, but if he uses the ata 100 controller card then the hdd will run at 100. So even though he uses the ata 100 cable on his mobo then the speed won't be at 100 but only at whatever the mobo supports at. Am I right on this one? Correct me if I am wrong.

 

[Motero]

You're right, but my mobo does support ata 100.
Thanks.