Two hard drives to one laptop connector?

[Chris2wire]

Since a desktop's IDE conector on the MB can have two hard drives connected to it through the use of an IDE cable that has two hookup spots... Can this be done in a laptop? Is there a special cable that can be bought to hook up to the laptop and then to two laptop hard drives? Obviously adapaters will be needed probably, but Im asking in general, is this possible?

This is for data transfer at work, which is done several times a day and needs a quality method.

 

[SlitheryDee]

I dunno about an IDE hookup but have you considered usb?

 

[Chris2wire]

USB is possible... But with USB the data is going from one computer to another. It might not be as fast as our current upload to a server and download back from it option. Although that option is fast, the files are huge and it ends up taking a long time.

Im under the impression that a hard drive to hard drive transfer within the same computer would be the fastest option.

 

[Green Man]

what about a USB external hard drive connector?

 

[Jiggz]

I'm not quite clear on the question.
1. Are you trying to install a second hdd on your laptop?
2. Do you want a second hdd externally?
3. Or do you want to add 2 hdd externally?

-For the first option, some laptop allows you to do this either by removing the battery and having a hdd adapter for a second hdd. Or the most common one which is removing the optical drive and using a an adapter for a 2nd hdd.

-For the 2nd & 3rd options, obviously you can only do this with either a USB, Firewire or eSATA (if your laptop if equipped).

 

[Chris2wire]

Hey guys, thanks for your help.

Let me clarify my question.

I need to transfer data from one laptop to another laptop. The data is around 20gb, and the current method of uploading to a server and downloading again is time costly.

We are doing these transfers all day so speed is important.

I have made the assumption that the fastest way to transfer data is to take the old laptop's hard drive out and put it in the new laptop WITH the new laptop's hard drive still isntalled. This way the data would be transferred from hard drive to hard drive within the same computer, rather than from computer to computer.

I have found a laptop IDE ribbon cable that can plug into the spot where the hard drive plugs in. Then you can plug in the 2 laptop hard drives to this IDE cable.

Now I ask... Is IDE on a laptop the same as IDE on a desktop? As in you can connect 2 hard drives to the same cable? (Im assuming yes, since the cable is available for purchase)

Let me know if anyone has info

 

[Jiggz]

Actually, the answer is Yes! But you need to make sure that the IDE Controller driver has both Master/Slave enabled and that both can be enabled in the BIOS. If you can verify these can be both enabled then you can do what you want to do.

 

[Green Man]

I don't know how new the laptops are, but if they have GBe then a crossover cable is a viable option. I would guess it would take under 45 m in. to transfer the 20GB, and you would save the time of messing with pulling hard drives out.

If the LAN on the laptops is limited to 10/100 or if the crossover proves too slow even with 1000, I still think USB is a better option as long as the laptops have USB 2.0.
I don't understand what you mean about USB going from one computer to another, but what is being suggested here is a USB external HDD enclosure or connector. You may also need an adapter to connect the laptop drive to the 40 pin IDE drive in the enclosure. With USB 2.0 maximum transfer speeds of 480 Mbps or 60 MBps, you may approach the speed of having 2 drives connected to the same IDE controller even if you never approach max speed on the USB.

It also saves you the time of having to pull drives from 2 laptops instead of just 1. I also assume that the laptops don't have the physical space to mount 2 drives connected to the same cable, so you would end up having running hard drives strewn about the workspace.

 

[CrispyFried]

some laptops only have a single ide channel enabled, the hd and optical take up the master/slave slot. check in the device manager and see if there are two channels, not just one.

so that cable might not work on all laptops, only some.

 

[Zepper]

Some laptops bring the IDE connection to the docking station connector. Or you could use a direct-connect USB to USB cable to transfer the data. Geeks.com had one of those on sale yesterday for $6.50. Wait for the Green Light sale today to see if it's on sale again.

.bh.