how many drives possible with ata pci card? 1

[denodave]

Does anyone know if the normal four-drive limitation can be overcome by adding a pci adapter card? In other words, if I have four IDE devices currently connected to the mainboard (two drives, a zip and a CDRW) can I increase the total number of hard drives by connecting a pci adapter card?

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[Dreamland]

Yes - depending on the card. The card will generally provide one or two additioanl IDE channels. Each channel is like a 'socket' on your motheboard that the IDE cable connects to, and each IDE cable can have two devices (each of the two connectors on the cable). You'll usually get the ability to add two cables = four additional devices total in addition to what's already on your mobo.

The cards will generally give you the ability (through their own BIOS) to hold the boot device as well. If you get a faster interface (ATA-100 or whatever) than your mobo currently has *and* you already have a hard drive capable of those faster transfer speeds, you can move it to the card for booting and leave your slow stuff on the mobo IDE ports. Depends somewhat on your mobo BIOS though.

 

[Comtech]

Just a note, optical devices do not always run well on ATA controller cards. As a habit I put all hard drives on the controller, and all opticals on the motherboard.
As more and more systems are coming out with CDRW, and DVDRW, including sometimes a regular CD, and even sometimes a DVD, IDE channels get in short supply rather quickly. "Promise" is the brand of controller I prefer.

Cheers,
Jim

http://members.cnx.net/reboot/