IDE/ATA => anything else

[vlame]

I want a new motherboard, but I know it'll most likely only have 1 IDE connector for 2 devices.

I have 4 IDE devices, 2 HDDs (160/250) and 2 burners (4x CD and DL-DVD).

http://cgi.ebay.com/IDE-133-100-HDD-TO- ... 2eab526f89
^didn't work.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... K:MEWNX:IT
I guess this is OK.

anybody use other pieces?

[Anapan]

You could get a PCI IDE Controller.

[Ziggy]

You could get a PCI PATA card, which is probably better than cheap SATA-PATA adapters from China, or upgrade your optical drives to SATA drives. DVD-RW Lightscribe drives go for $25 on New Egg, and they're 24x (DVD) and 48x (CD) speed. Then you could take your two PATA optical drives and put them in other computers.

Just a thought, but I understand that you might not wanna waste money upgrade perfectly working drives. Here are some non-RAID PCI cards from New Egg...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... -_-Product

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... -_-Product

edit: OR, maybe you might want to upgrade one or both hard drives for SATA drives which will be a gazillion times faster than your PATA drives. Here's a WD 320GB drive, which is almost as big as both your hard drives, for under $50...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6822136098

Or, here's a 500GB drive with a 32MB Cache for only a few more bucks...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6822136358

You might be on a budget, but on second though, I would definitely upgrade the hard drive to a SATA drive. If $55 would get you more GB than both your current hard drives combined, and will be a LOT faster, sounds like a good deal to me.

[Niode]

Just upgrade all your drives to SATA, they're dirt cheap now, there's no point in keeping PATA drives, they're slow and will constrict air flow in your case due to the size of their connectors. Use the old PATA drives in a PS2 or Xbox or something.

[Ziggy]

Just upgrade all your drives to SATA, they're dirt cheap now, there's no point in keeping PATA drives, they're slow and will constrict air flow in your case due to the size of their connectors. Use the old PATA drives in a PS2 or Xbox or something.

Pretty much what I was trying to say. I'm not too sure how much faster a SATA optical drive can be over a PATA drive though. I mean, if the read speed is 48x how can SATA make a difference? But yeah, parallel cables are just fucking annoying. I don't mind the physical shape of them, they can be constrictive to airflow but it really helps if you fold them (just make sure you don't mess them up). You can even buy rounded IDE cables that are, for all intents and purposes, already folded for you.



You also don't have to mess around with master/slave/CS jumpers on SATA drives, which can be annoying (especially when you don't realize that you're not using a cable select cable )

[avrame]

Seconding all the ideas suggested here.

But I have to bring up, what motherboard are you looking at?

I have an i7 board (MSI x58), and it has two IDE slots (for 4 devices max). Most boards have two ATA board slots, unless you are aiming to build a microITX machine or something

[MrPopo]

I have an i7 board (MSI x58), and it has two IDE slots (for 4 devices max). Most boards have two ATA board slots, unless you are aiming to build a microITX machine or something

Actually it's pretty hit and miss these days. When I built my PC three years ago I grabbed an Asus motherboard that only had one PATA port.

[Niode]

My P5Q-Deluxe only has one IDE connector. It varies from board to board, most enthusiast boards are abandoning the connector altogether because it saves space on the board and allows more SATA connectors to be incorporated. It doesn't really make sense to support PATA any more, they're increasingly hard to find, cost more than SATA drives and are slower.

Pretty much what I was trying to say. I'm not too sure how much faster a SATA optical drive can be over a PATA drive though. I mean, if the read speed is 48x how can SATA make a difference?

Well, I wasn't really talking about optical drives, but there is a definite performance increase in using a SATA HDD. Besides, optical drives cost what £15? it's ridiculous how cheap they are now... Might as well upgrade, especially for the benefit of faster writes and more compatibility.

[Ziggy]

Yeah, it is hit or miss with getting one or two PATA on the mobo. When I got my i7 board, the i7's were brand new so the only boards out were all top of the line boards. Not sure what's out there now, but I bet if there's budget i7 boards out there they only have one PATA. It wont be long before we start seeing motherboards with NO PATA on it!

[vlame]

hmm i just bought 3 IDE133 wires, and they don't connect to my hdds correctly. one shows up as corrupt when i connect 2 and they only work with my ROMS.

i didn't know there were cable select PATA wires.