hey guys this is my first post so if im in the wrong forum area just let me know... but the problem i have is that i currently have 2 hard drives and a dvd drive. they equal 100 gig of space. I am trying to add a third hard drive so i can have 180 gig. the problem is my computer wont seem to boot up when all 4 ide slots are taken. ive tried to mix and match all kinds of ways and all the devices seem to work when theres only 3 hooked up (3 regardless of wich ones they all work) but once i try to add the 4th wether it be the dvd drive or the extra hdd it starts giving me problems and wont boot. ive tried all the devices by themselves with the 3 setup and they all work its just when i try to add the fourth i have problems. can I only have 3 ide slots taken up???
Ide Problems
- Thread starter lightbulb
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Your problem there stems mainly from how the drives are jumpered. The dvd drive would be best set to master on the secondary ide cable with one hard drive set to the slave or cable select jumper setting there. Likewise the host drive would be set as master on the end of the primary ide cable with the second hard drive there set to either slave or cable select on the middle connector. If you installed a mastered drive on the middle connector that would gum up the works especially if Windows was on that drive.
Having 4 ide drives in use here even 3 hard drives at one point similar problems were solved quickly by changing jumper settings from a slave master to cable select on both drives. To have a more effective upgrade and increase available drive space you may want to consider going with a larger drive to begin with. Currently there are two 250gb hard drives, a cd writer and a dvd burner running on the system here. I could even add a SATA array to increase capacity at some point.
Having 4 ide drives in use here even 3 hard drives at one point similar problems were solved quickly by changing jumper settings from a slave master to cable select on both drives. To have a more effective upgrade and increase available drive space you may want to consider going with a larger drive to begin with. Currently there are two 250gb hard drives, a cd writer and a dvd burner running on the system here. I could even add a SATA array to increase capacity at some point.
Scrat
New Member
How many WATTS is your power supply rated at?
Try connecting them like this;
IDE-0 = Your Main HDD (set jumper to "Master") and connect it to the End connector on the ribbon cable.
IDE-0 = Your 2nd HDD (set jumper to "slave") and connect it to the middle connector on the ribbon cable.
IDE-1 = Your 3rd HDD (set jumper to "Master") and connect it to the End connector on the ribbon cable.
IDE-1 = DVD Drive (set jumper to "slave") and connect it to the middle connector on the ribbon cable.
Try connecting them like this;
IDE-0 = Your Main HDD (set jumper to "Master") and connect it to the End connector on the ribbon cable.
IDE-0 = Your 2nd HDD (set jumper to "slave") and connect it to the middle connector on the ribbon cable.
IDE-1 = Your 3rd HDD (set jumper to "Master") and connect it to the End connector on the ribbon cable.
IDE-1 = DVD Drive (set jumper to "slave") and connect it to the middle connector on the ribbon cable.
i dont know how many watts but ill check when i get home and i was thinking about just doing away with them and getting a 250gig but how would i get all the crap off the others?? just burn onto dvd? anyways im still gonna try to set the jumpers the way you guys said first before i do anything else.. and also thanks alot for your time and help i really really appreciate it.
A period backup of various files on data dvds never hurts. Frequent backups of files you consider important are something commonly advised anyways. That can bail you out fast if a drive fails or you get hit with some type of virus or malware. In fact I already have about 100gb overdue for backup on a stack of data dvds as it is. If you move into a larger primary drive you can always slave one of the smaller drives to save files from each one at a time.
