Best way to set this config up(MB and HD)?

I just ordered an ASUS A7N8X and want to set up 3 HDs, a cd/rw and a dvd...

I've never had more than 2 HDs setup at a time...I'm not positive but doesn't that MB only have 2 IDEs? How would I go about setting that config up?

PCI IDE Controller?

i'd help but nothing's coming up on google.

Originally posted by NightTrain
PCI IDE Controller?

:withstupi

Unless your motherboard is special, you only have 2 IDE connectors, each capable of handling 2 devices.

You can pick up a card from Newegg or elsewhere that will allow you to added one or two more IDE channels.

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduct.asp?submit=ad vance

Ignore the first two items on that page.

RTFM? :rolleyes:

Surely the manual will tell you how many IDE devices the board can handle.

Come on Sureshot, work with me. :heart:

Originally posted by Data
RTFM? :rolleyes:

Surely the manual will tell you how many IDE devices the board can handle.

Come on Sureshot, work with me. :heart:

haha thx guys. the asus site was down for me... I just wasn't sure if there was a way of doing without using an IDE PCI card? I thought about getting a sata converter for my primary IDE HD and seeing what that would do, but it looks like I'll just get the PCI card.

and no I haven't got the board in the mail yet data. I want to set up raid but I don't have 2 indenticle HD's and don't wanna buy another one. Can it be done if you have identical partitions?

IF.. your ordered the A7N8X deluxe (~$150 version) it will have 2 SATA ports, each can be used with SATA->ATA133 adapters to hook up a hard drive on each, and then the 2 IDE ports can be used to hook up 4 more devices (6 > 5, prob solved).. but that is only if you got the deluxe version. Other than that, there's no way to get 5 devices on 2 ports without an extra IDE controller card..

on that note, lemme recommend the Promise Ultra100 TX2 card, only around $25, easy installation, all winxp problems solved with their latest drivers :bigthumb:

Originally posted by Ragnafrak
IF.. your ordered the A7N8X deluxe (~$150 version) it will have 2 SATA ports, each can be used with SATA->ATA133 adapters to hook up a hard drive on each, and then the 2 IDE ports can be used to hook up 4 more devices (6 > 5, prob solved).. but that is only if you got the deluxe version. Other than that, there's no way to get 5 devices on 2 ports without an extra IDE controller card..

on that note, lemme recommend the Promise Ultra100 TX2 card, only around $25, easy installation, all winxp problems solved with their latest drivers :bigthumb:

yea I ordered the deluxe version with sata...so would it be worth the $25/each for the sata conveters? and would it be any faster transferring b/w a non sata HD? I'm a raid newbie so...

Originally posted by SureShot
and no I haven't got the board in the mail yet data. I want to set up raid but I don't have 2 indenticle HD's and don't wanna buy another one. Can it be done if you have identical partitions? RAID is useless bro, just forget about it, especially if you are considering trying software raid (only way to do raid with partitions)

Originally posted by invar
i'd help but nothing's coming up on google.

lol

Originally posted by SureShot


yea I ordered the deluxe version with sata...so would it be worth the $25/each for the sata conveters? and would it be any faster transferring b/w a non sata HD? I'm a raid newbie so... i thought they came with the converters, i guess not.. umm SATA currently doesn't offer any performance boost really.. if you are still bent on raid tho, i'd recommend that you order a raid controller pci card and abandon the SATA idea, because from what i've seen in reviews, the current SATA controllers are slower than ide, and if you're gonna spend $50 on converters, u might as well spend $50 on a better raid solution

Originally posted by Ragnafrak
i thought they came with the converters, i guess not.. umm SATA currently doesn't offer any performance boost really.. if you are still bent on raid tho, i'd recommend that you order a raid controller pci card and abandon the SATA idea, because from what i've seen in reviews, the current SATA controllers are slower than ide, and if you're gonna spend $50 on converters, u might as well spend $50 on a better raid solution

well I haven't got the board yet, but others who have said it doesn't come with the converters? Maybe I'll buy a raid controller and then make identicle partitions or something. appreciate the help. I just hate the long waits when I want to transfer a bunch of shit b/w my HDs.

what does b/w mean?

Originally posted by Ragnafrak
what does b/w mean?

shorthand for "between" kinda like b/c is short for because.

oh, in that case, you probably will not get any faster performance when doing that, usually, the read speed on a hard drive is only marginally faster than the write speed, so if you are transferring from a non-raid drive to a raid array, you probably will still be doing it just as slowly.. if you were wanting to speed it up, get an ata controller card and put each hard drive on it's own channel as master, that speeds things up immensely

Originally posted by Ragnafrak
oh, in that case, you probably will not get any faster performance when doing that, usually, the read speed on a hard drive is only marginally faster than the write speed, so if you are transferring from a non-raid drive to a raid array, you probably will still be doing it just as slowly.. if you were wanting to speed it up, get an ata controller card and put each hard drive on it's own channel as master, that speeds things up immensely

oh cool, well if the MB doesn't come with the convertors I'll have to order them and give it a shot.

Originally posted by NAT Mav

You can pick up a card from Newegg or elsewhere that will allow you to added one or two more IDE channels.



Ahh a PCI IDE Controller...good idea.