Removable HD bays

[<ABX]

I have a Model WDC WD1200JB-00CRA0 Western Digital 120gig 8mb buffer hd and want to add a removable hd bay for when i copy files from friends drives (it beats the speed of the network) but the drive has two settings Master (standalone) and Master (w/ slave) If i set it to Master(w/ slave) and there isnt a slave it wont boot. so i have to change the jump - at first this wasnt that big of a deal since i had the panel off already but if i get a removable hard drive bay, i still have to open the case (defeating the perpose)

Is there any other option other than putting one of my burners on the primary chanel (i will need to buy a long IDE cable) with the HD and have the removable bay on the secondary chanel?

Do they make IDE ATA133 Cables 7in from mobo to HD 11in from HD to CDROM?

[radarmy]

You could put your hard drive in a external firewire hd enclosure. Then the whole jumper thing would be irrelevant. I've seem the enclosures go for around 50-65 dollars.

[<ABX]

IEEE 1394 (LAVA) FIREWIRE HARD DRIVE ENCLOSURE/ EXTERNAL/ HOT PLUG&PLAY/ DAISY CHAIN UP TO 63 DRIVES/ PC OR MAC COMPATIABLE/ GREAT FOR BACKUP $144.99

Then Add FireWire Card....

LAVA FIREHOST IEEE FIREWIRE CARD $79.99

Cable...

6FT 4PIN-6PIN FIRWIRE CABLE $15.99

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Subtotal: $240.97 CDN
Total (w/tax): $274.71 (14%)

vs.

36 INCH ROUND IDE CABLE ULTRA DMA 133 (3 CONNECTORS) (BLACK) $15.99

BLACK HD BAY W/DRAWER W/FAN $59.99

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Subtoltal: $75.98
Total: 86.62 cdn

Difference $198.73 cdn

you had a good idea but the cost kinda puts it down

(unless some1 knows where to get the firewire stuff cheaper)

im going to have to move one of my cdroms

thanx for the reply tho
_________________________________________________
EDIT:

just realized i could get a IDE controler card HIGHPOINT ATA 133 CONTROLLER $69.99 and then i could have 4 spare IDE connections

[wrack]

Why can't u just set the drive to CABLE SELECT..??

[<ABX]

forgot about cable select - never had a reason to use it

thanx for the cheapist solution

still prob. gonna get IDE controler card cuz i will need it eventually, running outta hd space on my 120gig (never thought it was possible but true because i only got 4gig's left)

[Admiral Michael]

I have a Promise Ultra 133TX2 PCI IDe Controller card and it rocks, have have close to zero probems. It just doesnt like older IDE devices. (and I mean old). I had a 5x cdrom and it was operating weird. i hbought a net 52x CDROM and have had no probs since.

[wrack]

Originally posted by Admiral Michael
I have a Promise Ultra 133TX2 PCI IDe Controller card and it rocks, have have close to zero probems. It just doesnt like older IDE devices. (and I mean old). I had a 5x cdrom and it was operating weird. i hbought a net 52x CDROM and have had no probs since.

Just wondering how many more devices can u use with the card u have...??? Also how much does it costs.

[Admiral Michael]

I can add 4 more IDE devices. It has a primary and secondary controller like the onboard. It cost me at the time 79.97 plus 15% tax (Canadian). Right now its 69.97CDN plus tax.

I bought it from a place called Summit Driect which is a computer part warehouse so items are cheaper then in other computer stores.

[wrack]

Thanks Admiral.

Also are there any effects on performance of IDE devices you connect or works slow than u expected or anything like that.

[Admiral Michael]

No, not really. It can also run HardDrives with the new ATA133, but ATA100 and ATA66 work too. I wouldnt recommend using older drives like ATA33 on it tho.

[<ABX]

i got one, hooked it up on the middle with the hd on the end. Now my bios says "Primary Master ATAPI Incompatible" (new Line) "Primary Slave ATAPI Incompatible"

There is currently no drive in the drawer and the Primary Master is set to cable select.

Is this a major problem?

[wrack]

Try changing the cable ends. Like if you have connected the HDD to the end of the cable then connect it to the middle of the IDE cable.

Cheers.

[Admiral Michael]

Is the BIOS set to auto-detect the drives? Maybe its looking for a drive thats not there. Expecially since you said that there's no drive in the drawer.

[<ABX]

Primary Master was defined because it should ALWAYS be in the the computer but the Primary Slave(Removable HD BAY) was set to auto detect. If i move the hard drive to the middle wont that make the hard drive the Primary Slave???