Adding a CDRW/DVD drive. 1

[kippy13]

Hi, I recently purchased an LG CDRW/DVDROM combo drive for my PC.
My PC is a dell dimension 4100. I already have four drives on both IDE cables. A harddrive and Floppy on one and a 250Meg zip drive and CDROM drive on the other.
I have no more space on either of these cables to add my new drive and I do not want to lose any of my old ones.
Can I get an IDE cable with more than two spaces for drives, if so where as I have been unable to find any?
I have enough power supply cables.
Also, How would I set up three drives on an IDE cable( master slave, etc.)
Any help at all is gratefully appreciated.
Regards,
Kippy13.

 

[BChumie]

Hello,

With IDE you are only allowed two device per connection. So to answer your question you can't get a cable with three connections. One question I do have for you is why is your floppy drive hooked up with your hard drive... On most systems they are seperate items (connections) but I have never worked with the high density floppies (120 meg disks) so I relaly don't know what you have. If you do have a high denisty floppy and it needs to be connected to an IDE bus then I suggest you purchase a promise IDE controller card and throw your hard drive on that...

Brad

 

[paparazi]

Oh dear!
one channel will only drive 2 devices as Master and slave, so something has got to go! unless...............
You fit a PCI to IDE card that will give you space for 4 more devices.
This would also enable you to remove the slow floppy drive off the primary IDE channel which should speed your system up a bit.
Carn't think of any other options. Martin Please let members know if there advice has helped any.

 

[ceh4702]

They make I/O cards that let you add ATA133/100 drives. This is one solution you might try.

I have also seen some devices called TRIOS Hard Drive Selector. It is meant to be used with three hard drives, but it might work with multiple CDROMS/ZIP drives. If you do not like my post feel free to point out your opinion or my errors.

 

[ANFPS26]

You could replace that CD-ROM drive with the new DVD drive and use it for the CD-ROM, also. If not, you'll need a new controller card. "A little knowledge is a dangerous thing....."