Hard Drive question..

[BloodWolf]

Hi,

I got a 120GB IDE drive and I was wondering if I could use it as my spare drive, i currently ave a sata-2 drive.

thanks

 

[FrankJH]

If you have a spare IDE connector on your mobo then yes you can.

I would however advise against using the hdd as a slave to an optical drive - esp writer as I believe there to be problems not only in hdd's working slower than optimally when used like this, but also writing to optical media not being 100% - maybe some one else can confirm or deny this.

 

[Richiev4]

You could use it as a second drive, but I would be more inclined to buy an external enclosure for it and use it via a USB of firewire port, will give you a nice amount of external storage for backup.

Hope this helps

 

[BloodWolf]

I do have a spare IDE, my writer atm is on i think slave ide

 

[FrankJH]

why is your writer on as a slave?

If its working optimally then fine - but just be aware of potential problems if you add your ide hdd as master.

Richiev4's suggestion is also a good one - though a little more hassle, but might be worth while

 

[BloodWolf]

Yup. I don't know why it's on slave.. my brother built my computer for me?

Should it be on master?

 

[xtreme.BIN]

why is your writer on as a slave?

If its working optimally then fine - but just be aware of potential problems if you add your ide hdd as master.

Master, Slave, / Slave, Master

Makes no difference, either combination will work np. Also adding a Hd on the same IDE channel will cause no problems.

 

[FrankJH]

Also adding a Hd on the same IDE channel will cause no problems.

I dont doubt it will work - however I wouldnt advise using it if you dont have to, hard discs have been known to slow down with an optical drive on the same channel

 

[BloodWolf]

Ok, i dont really need it, can always buy another ata drive i guess? :O