tarna Posted April 5, 2006 Share Posted April 5, 2006 Does anyone know how many HDs you can stack on a single IDE cable without giving the motherboard a seizure? I've got 6 HDs on a system using an IDE cable for 2 of them and the other 4 on SATA cables ( IDE drives with SATA converters ). I'd like to put them all on a single cable and clean up the rat's nest of cables in my system. I have a 5' IDE cable and am thinking about adding additional IDE sockets to it and giving it a try. Ruminations... When a man has no Future, the Present passes too quickly to be assimilated and only the static Past has value. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dhruin Posted April 5, 2006 Share Posted April 5, 2006 No, each IDE channel only supports a master and a slave. In other words: 2 drives per IDE cable. You could look at an external HDD enclosure but otherwise, you'll need to put up with the cables. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darth Barth Posted April 5, 2006 Share Posted April 5, 2006 No, each IDE channel only supports a master and a slave. In other words: 2 drives per IDE cable. You could look at an external HDD enclosure but otherwise, you'll need to put up with the cables. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Quoted for truth. In short, get higher capacity drives. WHAT A HORRIBLE NIGHT TO HAVE A CURSE. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
metadigital Posted April 5, 2006 Share Posted April 5, 2006 You could use RAID or striping. ATA (and therefore IDE) OBSCVRVM PER OBSCVRIVS ET IGNOTVM PER IGNOTIVS OPVS ARTIFICEM PROBAT Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dhruin Posted April 5, 2006 Share Posted April 5, 2006 How would RAID help with the cables? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
metadigital Posted April 5, 2006 Share Posted April 5, 2006 Not at all. :D OBSCVRVM PER OBSCVRIVS ET IGNOTVM PER IGNOTIVS OPVS ARTIFICEM PROBAT Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slowtrain Posted April 5, 2006 Share Posted April 5, 2006 I'm running an adpatec 29320ALP which gives up to 15 SCSI Ultra 320 drives on one cable. I use the IDE only for my DVD drives. Notice how I can belittle your beliefs without calling you names. It's a useful skill to have particularly where you aren't allowed to call people names. It's a mistake to get too drawn in/worked up. I mean it's not life or death, it's just two guys posting their thoughts on a message board. If it were personal or face to face all the usual restraints would be in place, and we would never have reached this place in the first place. Try to remember that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tarna Posted April 6, 2006 Author Share Posted April 6, 2006 In short, get higher capacity drives. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> :D I have 2 320s, 2 250s, an 80 ( workpad drive ) and a 100 Gb ( front C drive )! I'd thought about scuzzy drives since I can stack quite a few on the same cable but that would also mean I have to replace all my drives. I going to wait until Seagate comes out with their 500 Gb SATA drives before I start replacing them again. I'll come up with something. When a problem presents itself, I usually won't give up 'til I find an answer. Oh and BTW, part of the reason I need to clean up this mess of wires is because I have two motherboards, two PSUs 7 HDs, two optical drives and extra fans in this case. You can imagine what a mess it is and why I need to clean it up. Coming up with a way to control the fans was interesting. Meta - I just read your link about IDE cables. It looks like my biggest problem will be pin 28 on the cable. Without the ability to determine master/slave relationship with the drives, the computer won't boot properly. I'll come up with something. Ruminations... When a man has no Future, the Present passes too quickly to be assimilated and only the static Past has value. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick_i_am Posted April 6, 2006 Share Posted April 6, 2006 (edited) http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo...roductID=166952 somthing like this is your friend. Some of them can be quite loud, that make is nice and quiet though, needs USB2, which older computers don't have, but just lets you swap HDs in and out nice and easily. Edited April 6, 2006 by Nick_i_am (Approved by Fio, so feel free to use it) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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