How many slaves can the master have?

[Kevin O'Connor]

I purchased a new / faster HDD because my original has some issues that I can't seem to fix. Although the original drive has a bad cluster and is just fragmented it still works. I'm thinking of making it the slave and new / faster drive the master.

My question is: The people at my local computer repair shop said my MoBo may only support HDD capacities up to 80Mb. My old drive is a 40Mb and the new one is also a 40Mb. I don't need the storage space but I hate to through away the old drive. So, if the above constraint is true does it matter how many slave HDD are in my system and if they total 80Mb or more?

 

[Cromewell]

it will be individual drive size of 80GB. You can only have 1 slave drive per ata channel, there are usually 2 channels and one will have the HDD(s) and the other will have the CD/DVD drive(s), they can be put on the same channel as well.

 

[Kevin O'Connor]

I installed the new drive with no issues but I could not install the old one as the slave. The main reason is that the ribbon cable for the HDD does not have a second connector. The power cable has two connectors but not the data cable. I'll need to get a new cable but how do I secure the slave drive? Is there a brkt. kit available for mounting the slave drive on top of the master drive?

Another question; in my BIOS setup I noticed that it lists a space for a primary master HD, a primary slave HD, a secondary master and a secondary slave. What is the primary and secondary all about?

Also, my power source is 100w max. If I add a slave drive and increase CPU and FSB speed will the power source still be sufficient?

 

[Cromewell]

you need screws to attach the drive inside the mounting brackets or drive cage. you cant miss where it's supposed to go

 

[Kevin O'Connor]

I have a mini ATX case and the HDD is just slapped up against the front grill opening with two screws but it's out of the way of everything. It's not in a 3.5" drive bay. After I realized that I have an open 3.5" drive bay I just installed it there, fits perfect like you said. Although, the power cable does not reach now so I'll get an extension.

What do you think my BIOS means by primary master HDD and secondary master HDD?

 

[The Astroman]

My P4P800 has

2 x UltraDMA 100/66/33
2 x Serial ATA, RAID 0, 1

so how much HDDs can I put in my comp. ?

 

[Cromewell]

you can get 2 drives per pata connector (ultradma), any combo of CD/DVD/HDD and 1 drive per sata, so you can potentially have 6

 

[Praetor]

'll need to get a new cable but how do I secure the slave drive

With screws?

Another question; in my BIOS setup I noticed that it lists a space for a primary master HD, a primary slave HD, a secondary master and a secondary slave. What is the primary and secondary all about?

You can have 4 ATA devices on your computer the secondary line is traditionally used for optical drives