Adding More IDE Ports In Computer

[WeaponX 0]

Hi, is there any way I can add more IDE ports to my computer? I'm building a computer from scratch and it's basically done. Just want to know how I can add more IDE ports since I plan on adding multiple hard drives to this computer and with the current setup, there will be no more free IDE ports.I did some searching before posting here and found some users mentioning a PCI IDE Controller card. I searched online and all I found are ATA/SATA/RAID Controller Cards instead. Are these the same? I know I had to use a controller card on my older Windows 98 desktop because it wouldn't recognize my huge hard drive, but not sure if the same applies here (if I only want some available IDE ports).Also another quick question. Is the BLUE slot on the ribbon cable specifically for the blue IDE port on the motherboard? Can I use another blue one if the pins match the ones on the other available IDE port on the motherboard? I have two IDE ports on the mobo...one blue (for hard drive) and another white (for burner). I checked to make sure the pins are the same and they fit perfectly...Thanks.

[yungblood 0]

Hi, is there any way I can add more IDE ports to my computer?  I'm building a computer from scratch and it's basically done.  Just want to know how I can add more IDE ports since I plan on adding multiple hard drives to this computer and with the current setup, there will be no more free IDE ports.

 

I did some searching before posting here and found some users mentioning a PCI IDE Controller card.  I searched online and all I found are ATA/SATA/RAID Controller Cards instead.  Are these the same?  I know I had to use a controller card on my older Windows 98 desktop because it wouldn't recognize my huge hard drive, but not sure if the same applies here (if I only want some available IDE ports).

 

Also another quick question.  Is the BLUE slot on the ribbon cable specifically for the blue IDE port on the motherboard?  Can I use another blue one if the pins match the ones on the other available IDE port on the motherboard?  I have two IDE ports on the mobo...one blue (for hard drive) and another white (for burner).  I checked to make sure the pins are the same and they fit perfectly...

 

Thanks.

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First, colored ribbons mean nothing. As long as a Ribbon cable as the right number of pins, and it's a flat ribbon, it will work just fine.

 

Did you know that on most motherboards, you can use 2 drives per IDE port on the motherboard?

 

With RAID controller cards, you can add alot more hard drives for a comparatively small amount of money. I have seen as much as a 12port RAID card, and it was only $700. Yea, that may sound like alot of money. But if you think about how much it would cost to buy specialty computers, or several computers and network them, it really is a cheaper method. RAID cards do have a disadvantage though. They only work good if all your hard drives on the card are the same size. (Preferably, same brand, same model) If you have different sized hard drives, it treats them all as if they are all equal to the smallest, assuming the one you get allows it. Another idea for getting more hard drives is etherraid. (check out coreraid) I do know of other methods, but they are more expensive. How many drives do you want in your system? Have you thought about just upgrading to a larger hard drive? or do you want more CD/DVD drives?

 

-YB

[WeaponX 0]

Thanks for the ribbon info...just wasn't too sure, but pins are correct :huh:Yes, I know. Right now I have a hard drive and a DVD burner installed. But I will probably be adding more than 2 more IDE devices in shortly, so I want to plan ahead for this...I don't really want to create a RAID setup. I just want to have more available IDE ports to plug my devices into. Yeah, I plan to get a bigger hard drive, but what I want to do mainly now is to use the other drives that I already have data on already. I will be working with them, so I just want to make it easier for now and just install them as slaves if possible. Unless there is a RAID method that doesn't require striping or mirroring? I always thought that's what RAID was used for...

[inconnu1405241515 0]

If what you are thinking is just one more HDD, on top of the 4 IDE devices that'll be connected to the motherboard's embedded IDE ports, you may want to consider using an external HDD enclosure as an alternative to adding an IDE controller. It's a handy solution, too. If it is more than one more drive, forget it. Should you choose to add an extra controller and drives inside the case, be careful your power supply has enough capacity on its 12V line.

[wutske 0]

If you don't have the HDD yet, I'd suggest you to use the SATA ports on you motherboard (it probably have 2 or 4 ports at least since it's a new pc).One SATA can support 1 HDD. If you don't have enough SATA cards, you could also buy a SATA RAID PCI card (of even USB->SATA convertor, but that's going to be slow).P.s. about the ribbons, there are 2 kinds of them, an 80 and 40 wire. The 80 is for PATA100/133 (for you HDD mainly). It's the ribbons with the finer cables.The 40wire is for slower PATA standards, so it's perfect for a DVD.

[Grafitti 0]

Why go with IDE? I don't suppose you already have more than 4 hard disks sitting around from your old computer, and your motherboard should support at least 2, and most likely 4, SATA ports. that gives you a total (assuming you don't use a cd or dvd) of 8 hard disks you can attach, without going out and buying speciality hardware to expand. and why would you need more than that, considering also that the larger the hard drive size, the cheaper it is per gigabyte. you can find 400 GB hard disks for $250 or less. Get a couple of those and you won't need to expand for a good while.

[jipman 0]

Wutske and Grafitti said it, I'm going to say it again. If you build a new computer, use SATA, the price for the harddrives is nearly the same, the transferspeeds (SATA has two versions, 1 and 2, which are both faster than the IDE ports you are using now). Most new motherboards have built in SATA controllers for probably 4 drives, so you don't have to get extra controllers (probably).I speak out of experience, because I have a computer now with 4 SATA Maxtor harddrives with 250 GB each and it works like a charm, transfers speeds are about 10-20 mb/sec higher than I had with my other pc's.Another reason, having 4 ribbon cables makes a mess inside your case, obstructing the airflow. SATA data cables are really thin and small cables which are way better for airflow (which you are going to need if you plan on a lot of harddrives).

[WeaponX 0]

The thing is that I use a USB enclosure drive already and over time I have like 3 hard drives with data on them filled up already. The new PC already has a new hard drive (bought a IDE one already ). I should have went with SATA since it does have the ports for it. I just wasn't sure about it since I never used them before. I will get a SATA HDD for the sake of testing it out then... Transfer speeds are faster? Meaning from drive to drive? How about SATA to IDE HDD?For the 40 wire cable, can it be used for a DVD burner (not regular DVD ROM)? I think both of the IDE cables I used are 80 wired (main HDD and DVD burner).Thanks.

[wutske 0]

if you have 80 wire cables, I'd use them (imho, they look better ), but 40wires is fast enough (they are supposed the transfer up to 66Mbs, no dvd toy can get that fast ).One thing I want to clear up, SATA aren't faster than PATA drives, that's just some marketing-brainwash slogan. It's quite normal that a new SATA drive is faster than an 'older' PATA drive, that's just how it goes.SATA is useless for it's speed, since no hdd can go faster than 70Mb/s (that's a lot slower than the 300Mbs offered by SATA2), the only pros are NQC(SATA2 only btw), slimmer cables, cheap RAID and hotpluggable (it realy works, I do that all the time )

[jipman 0]

Dang... Didn't know that one, although it does seem to me that transferringspeeds between 2 new SATA drives is a tad higher that that of 2 new IDE's.Anyway, atleast get round IDE cables since with so much harddrives it's going to be a bloody mess.Since you already have IDE drives it's probably better to stick with them and just get extra IDE controllers.Tip for next time : Consult before you buy, it saves money and you make sure you get the best stuff for your money

[juventino79 0]

Why buy IDE ATAhey i dont know if you know yet but you can get SATA drives nowupgrade your drives trust me its worth it, if you have to add new HD's that isi have SATA raid controller on my pc with two serial ata 80 gb hard drives very very very very fast and reliable

[inconnu1405241515 0]

As well said by wutske, as of today, having a SATA does not automatically mean superiority to PATA. What affects more the transfer rate of a hard drive are: density (i.e., capacity per platter) and rotational speed. There is currently no hard drive unit existing yet that can even reach the max nominal performance of ATA133 interface's 133Mb/sec. It is exactly which HDD you have picked up, that decides the speed, and not the type of interface. Having said that, SATA will show significant advantages in some usage scenario. As pointed out by some above, RAID is an example; otherwise it is a heavily multitasking environment that needs the help of SATAII's NCQ feature.It is true, forward looking, that PATA will be gradually be obsoleted and eventually eliminated, by which time you will probably find new drives -- with newer hardware designs -- only launched with SATA I/F.At the end of the day, what defines the optimal solution is, for what purpose you are building your system. For example, if it is a dedicated system to steaming video over your home network all day long, you may want to go with drives with higher transfer rates. As an opposite example, if the system is to be placed in your living room, you will want to choose a drive with lower rotational speed, thus less noisier, less heat, even at the cost of slight speed down.Well, my real point was: you don't have to be too disappointed just because you have picked up an PATA drive.

[WeaponX 0]

I should have waited before I bought that hard drive. I basically rushed this PC building process and didn't even begin to build it until weeks later after I got the parts already. Well, I put up the hard drive for bids on eBay yesterday. Should I take it down?I really want to know if there will be any improvements in speed or performance. This is what the computer will be used for:1. Internet2. Gaming - probably not the very fast paced games, but my sister did want to play Counter Strike on it I think...3. Playing movies and music4. Some DVD and CD burning5. Transferring data from hard drive to hard drive from time to time for backup purposes (don't like DVDs that much )So is it worth it for me to get a SATA drive? If not, I will keep my ATA hard drive then. If it's helpful, the hard drive is a Seagate 120GB IDE hard drive. Didn't buy a bigger one as I didn't see that my brother or sister will need it. But if the SATA is worth it, I will look for a bigger HDD like 200GB or more. SATA RAID is supported by my motherboard, but I do not wish to create a RAID setup.I will look into getting the rounded IDE cables, but it's probably not needed. The case I have it kind of big...I think it's a 9 or maybe 11 drive bay case. It's the case with the Halo insignia on the see through side cover

[inconnu1405241515 0]

Recommendation - Conclusion

Seeing what you plan to do with your PC, my personal conclusion is that there is no real reason you must look for another drive than the mentioned Seagate 120GB drive. (I beleive there are currently two variations of Seagate 120GB/PATA models on the market; the Barracuda 7200.7 Plus or the Barracuda 7200.9 - do you know which one it is?) To add to this conclusion is the reputation of Seagate drives' quietness --- an important factor, but often left behind.

 

Reference

Having my conclusion said first, here are some consideration points for you to make up your mind finally.

 

1. Internet

2. Gaming - probably not the very fast paced games, but my sister did want to play Counter Strike on it I think...

3. Playing movies and music

4. Some DVD and CD burning

 

For the above use, there wouldn't be any improvement even if you have changed for a "faster" drive. These application simply do not require higher transfer rates than what most drives available on the market today provides.

 

5. Transferring data from hard drive to hard drive from time to time for backup purposes

 

For this one, let's make an example:

The time you would need to read 20GB of data using drives with a transfer rate of 58MB/sec and 44MB/sec are respectively approx. 5.9 minutes and 7.8 minutes. (Note: In reality, there are a lot more factors to take into consideration when it comes to file copying, so I cited read performance to make the comparison simpler.)

 

So the consideration point here is:

how often would you do such operation, do you really need it and if yes, how much in $$$ would you value such difference?

 

Some Backup Data

As mentioned in previous posts, an HDD isn't fast just because it has SATA.

In the benchmark results linked below, you will even find that a Segate 400GB PATA is faster than the same hardware based 400GB SATA version. The Seagate 400GB models (the Barracuda 7200.9), though, is faster than its predecessor Barracuda 7200.7 Plus series, regardless of interface.

 

HDD Benchmarks [from Tom's Hardware]

[WeaponX 0]

I have the Barracuda 7200.9. Should have waited again...Have to cancel the auction with one bidder on it OK, I will stick with this HDD then. The main reason I was leaning towards SATA at the end was the fact that I will be adding 2-3 more IDE hard drives (that already had data on them) and a DVD burner.For the ATA controller cards, I always thought that they were used to support higher hard drives. I have one on my old PII machine since it couldn't see 120GB (or maybe 160GB) hard drives. Just want to clear this up and we can wrap this up...So can I use this ATA controller card just for IDE slot "expansion"? Guess it's worth it if it just occupies one PCI slot and offers two more IDE ports. I'll just yank it from the old PC...Thanks.