IDE Cable Question

[The Hobo]

Does anybody make IDE cables with 4 sockets? I need to connect three drives, but I can only find cables with 3 sockets.

[wrack]

Originally posted by The Hobo
Does anybody make IDE cables with 4 sockets? I need to connect three drives, but I can only find cables with 3 sockets.

I think you can only have 2 sockets with IDE...

I have a same problem and the solution I am going to apply is buy an IDE controller card which fits into PCI and will work as IDE controller...You still need to make sure that there are no IRQ conflicts with it bcos one of my very experienced friend told me that its very obvious to have it...

Cheers...

[Sastraxi]

IDE is 2 devices-per-channel always. There are 2 on your motherboard, = 4 IDE ports. You can get an IDE PCI card, giving up to 3 or 4 channels each. That means you can have a whopping 12 IDE devices on your computer (if you have enough space and power).

[The Hobo]

I remember those now. Back in the class I took, we setup some old machines to run as Citrix clients, and I remember pulling out IDE cards.

Will any old one do? Aside from making sure it'll fit in my slot, are there any other things I'd have to consider when buying one?

[siyan]

Originally posted by The Hobo
I remember those now. Back in the class I took, we setup some old machines to run as Citrix clients, and I remember pulling out IDE cards.

Will any old one do? Aside from making sure it'll fit in my slot, are there any other things I'd have to consider when buying one?

drivers.

[The Hobo]

Originally posted by siyan
drivers.

Anything else?

[siyan]

i'm not sure if IDE controllers have the same Software-Hardware distinction as SCSI ones, since IDE is basically software controlled anyways AFAIK, but suffice to say that a "hardware controller" on the card chipset is better.

if that made any sense. probably doesn't matter much.