Removable IDE hard drives in mac??

[PAULRUEZ]

I have a ide removable hardrive called the MobileDrive (

http://www.summatec.com)

and I'm wondering: Do the Mac's have a secondary hard drive controller that permits master slaving? I want to plug the ide cable from the MobileDrive's drive bay (mounts inside the tower just like a CD) into the secondary hard drive controller.

This worked fine in a second generation bios G3 but that version didn't permit master slaving so while I gained use of my UDMA removable hardrive I could not slave my cd to it. I understand Apple has changed their master slaving relationship a number of times as well as their number of ide controllers.

Am I trying to expect too much from a Mac or is it possible to have an ide device on a secondary master?

Thoughts welcome. Thanks

 

[DaveGoTech]

You can purchase a PCI plug-in IDE board that has 2 controllers that support 4 drives.

http://www.GoTechnologiesInc.com

 

[Claude72]

Hi Paulruez

As far as I know, except the first revision of the beige G3, all PROFESSIONNAL Mac with G3 and G4 processors support two devices (one master and one slave) on each IDE channel. Professionnal Mac are beige G3, blue/white G3 and "G4", but doesn't include Performas, iMacs, eMacs and portables.

The beige G3 had 3 revisions of the ROM:
ROM $77D.40F2 = revision 1,
ROM $77D.45F1 = revision 2,
ROM $77D.45F2 = r?vision 3
Revision 1 handles only master devices. But revision 2 and 3 handle 2 devices on each IDE channel, like every standard IDE controller.
The cable from the the IDE plug #0 to the main HD has only two plugs, so you can't use it for a second drive unit, but it's possible to use another 3 plugs cable (you can buy it in all PC shops) and then use 2 devices on this controller.
The cable from the IDE plug #1 to the CD reader has a third plug that can be used for a second HD or a ZIP or...
What is a "second generation bios G3"? If it is a beige revision 2 it handles master/slave drives, if it is a blue/white it also handles master/slave drives...

Best regards
Claude