IDE and Cable Select options

Channel Hopper

Channel Hopper

Suffering fools, so you don't have to.
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Just wondering out loud whether three way cables were ever introduced, to solve a current issue with a motherboard with only one IDE socket.

My only other option would be to run the operating system off the SATA, two IDE drives from the cable select on the socket, and an external USB CD/DVD drive.
 
How many SATA ports does it have? You could aways get a SATA DVD Writer.
 
Actually I'm somewhat spoiled by choice, but SATA is not a way I can move forward easily.

The main issue not the operating system (XP SP3), but the existing two IDE drives (one for o/s and one for transferring/duplicating important data over to), and in particular the existing motherboard, which has been absolutely faultless in operation over the years (A78XN with 2GHz Athlon processor and 2GB RAM) but is showing its age, running dog slow, especially during startup - I can have breakfast in the time it takes to come on.

The other PC boards I have here have multiple SATAs plus zero or one IDE, meaning getting a SATA DVD drive to keep what I have in terms of running everything, but I then have to find different (DDR 2) sticks and possibly some different cabling for the innards.

Ideally a faster dual IDE motherboard would be the way to go as I could simply revert the drivers back to generic (as per last weeks upgrade for the other half - other thread) and then bolt everything I have back onto the new motherboard.

And, it would be nice to have some audio as the motherboard hasn't got a functioning output(well not anything I could get to work for much longer than a few minutes, but that might be me)

Additionally I can't really be without the PC for longer than a day, I 'run' the business with it.
 
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Would something like these do the job?

linitx.com/product/pci-ata133-ide-raid-card/11626?gclid=CPnzg-i84L0CFSOWtAodDhkARw

ebay.co.uk/itm/VIA-VT6421A-3-SATA-1-Port-IDE-PCI-RAID-Controller-Card-/120646047061?_trksid=p2054897.l4275
 
I don't think they ever made IDE work with more than two drives, I'd go with the PCI IDE controller, I have a Maxtor one in my old Pentium75 to give it the ability to have bigger HDDs fitted than what the BIOS supported and keeping the CD-Rom drive connected to the motherboard's IDE headers... :)
 
smoggy07 said:
Would something like these do the job?

linitx.com/product/pci-ata133-ide-raid-card/11626?gclid=CPnzg-i84L0CFSOWtAodDhkARw
Click to expand...


That looks very neat.

Would the motherboard be able to boot up from one of the IDEs though ?
 
Channel Hopper said:
That looks very neat.

Would the motherboard be able to boot up from one of the IDEs though ?
Click to expand...
I'm not too sure but if it can't you could always run the OS HDD to the motherboards IDE socket and use the card for the other HDD/CD/DVD devices.
I would have thought it would boot up thought because you can boot from USB, DVD/CD and even via network using onboard or PCI Ethernet.

Sent from my GT-S6810P using Tapatalk
 
:)Looks like fate is likely to determine the outcome.

I got the two drives working within the new motherboard for about an hour without a hitch, but despite being a 2.8GHz processor I had to run 4 x 256MB ram for the machine to start up.

Got all the other pieces in and ran all the tests and - success !

Then tried to run with 4 x 1GB sticks and no joy, so reverted back to the 4 x 256's whilst looking round for some solution and still nothing.

Ran the primary drive as a slave in the test machine and up flags a boot sector issue, and so I fix it with the third party software.

Stick the drive back in the donor machine and up comes the Windows light blue screen for 'checking the drive for consistency', and I'm a little too slow to hit the cancel. So Windows does its usual tricks of removing and replacing files in some sensitive areas and then finishes suggesting it's all fixed. Now, following the start up I'm left with the usual dark blue horror screen, and no further repairs seem to do the trick of running the operating system.
 
try with only 2x 1GB sticks, or even just one, see what it does
 
If the copy of windows isn't 64bit, it won't see the full 4GB and would probably BSOD, not to mention the motherboard may say it supports it, but like my AMD desktop's Asus board, it's telling porkies and the RAM speed has to be set to a snails pace in order to work (and by work I mean be about as much use as having the 4x 256MB sticks in place!!!)...

Computers eh? :rolleyes:
 
Thanks, and no, the operating system appears to have been compromised more or less totally. I don't believe the motherboard was/is to blame, but I can't now get the operating system within the primary drive to work and I am not going to risk reinstalling Windows on it, (having already tried both types of 'repair' options overnight - DOS / FIXMBR/FIXMBR and also the XP operating system disk led repair), the data held on it is too valuable to get overwritten.

All is not lost though as I can see all the data, most importantly the 'documents and folders' section when the drive is slaved in the second machine so I have all the info I require to commence work back on Tuesday, possibly with the exeption of the email system.

Having looked at the parts bin and the working stuff (which I am currently using to get online) I have the following to do.

1) Take out the two IDE drives containing the company data from the old carcass with failed upgrade. Condition appears to be 'healthy' according to the Belarc online service.

2) Use the PC I am now posting on as the carcass - 1 Dell PC with XP operating system on a single SATA drive. motherboard has two SATA sockets. Everything appears up to date and the condition of the drive appears to be 'healthy' according to the Belarc online service. It will be the first time I have delved into SATA architecture but I have no real choice.

The PC however has only one IDE socket and this is currently being used by the DVD drive. Additionally the Dell power supply for this chassis has a limited number of wired connections coming from it, meaning only one IDE device can be powered up at any one time.

3) Disconnect the DVD drive and connect what was the original D drive, and copy/paste all data on it into to the spare section of the newer SATA drive. Then disconnect and store the drive away safely in the company safe as a backup.

4) Install what was the original C drive in its place and transfer all the documents and settings into another folder on the SATA drive. Then disconnect and store as per 3).

5) Reinstall the DVD drive back on the IDE circuit. As a further back up I might then install a second SATA drive as a slave and transfer the new DATA on the C drive over to it (there is a physical slot for one, (and a second power source) though I will have to find another SATA data cable from somewhere.

I still won't have access to my original email unless I can import all contact/email as the original business user onto the new drive, so the question now is, is this possible to copy/paste somewhere within the XP system and reboot without a massive headache ? I was using Outlook Express for emails, and BT business is the provider, having migrated over a couple of years ago to Microsoft 365.

I need to get a couple of hours sleep, since I stopped the attempted manual DOS repair at about 2am and the XP o/s auto repair carried on for about three hours after that, with the open carcass chattering away/retarting nearby until about 30 minutes ago.
 
You can easily backup the entire Outlook Express folder, I've done it quite often.
Right click on My Computer and click on Explore.
Go up to Tools, and click on Folder Options.
Click on View and change to view Show Hidden Files & Folders. Now you need to refresh, or close it down and open Explore again.
Navigate to the old disk, D or E Drive and expand Documents & Settings, "User Name", Local Settings, Application Data, Identities, and keep expanding until you get to Outlook Express.
Copy this folder and if you install XP again you can paste the old folder in the new XP file once you've set up Outlook Express, if using a newer operating system, and Windows Mail, use the import wizard, in Windows Mail, to import the email messages into your new hard drive.

I would also try using the Windows repair option, on your works drive, once the drive is installed as a slave, open My Computer, right click on the PC's hard drive, properties, tools and error checking, and select the corrupt drive, depending on the operating system in your new PC.

You also mention that your works PC had 2 hard drives these weren't set up in a RAID configuration, were they?
 
Thanks, will try later.

The two drives were not set up as RAID as far as I can gather, the old motherboard probably had no such facility (apologies, it is the ASUS A7N8X - E)

http://www.asus.com/999/html/events/mb/socketa/a7n8x-e-d/overview.htm

I put the original drive from my first machine in as a slave just to get the old business detail in an easily recoverable space.
 
Going in now.

First snag, this PC has no PS2 ports, so I've had to blag the other half's USB mouse and keyboard (not happy).
 
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First drive in place of the DVD drive and it looks like the data with the exception of some older Windows O/S stuff (probably Win 98) takes up no more than about 5GB and should take 15 minutes to transfer over to the main SATA drive.

Just had another thought as I'm sure I've got a SATA DVD drive somewhere, I could put that onto the second SATA socket, leaving both IDE drives in place (though I might then have to upgrade the power supply for more connectors - and or juice.

Maybe not.

And I've now printed out Mickha's advice further up, for the next stage.
 
All in, IDE drive disconnected and put away for safety (after turning off and dumping the excess voltage). The machine is now chattering away like a goodun, so I'm going to carry out a malware and AV scan on the new data, just in case.
 
Hmm, the second (the primary in the original ) drive is giving the new PC some trouble. Even more clattering than the last one.

So, it may have been the drive was actually on its last legs. A Western Digital 160GB unit, so it might be an old Sky + box unit. Will check age and exact model number once recognised and data transferred over.
 
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Managed to get shot of it by deleting everything within the Antimalware folder first then emptying the bin, before throwing it in the bin. Cleared the wastebin and now progressing.
 
And something by the name 'ToolboxFX' (within a Hewlett Packard folder) is also preventing transfer of documents. A bit more difficult to remove.

Had to go into Administrator mode to remove that.
 
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