[myrace]

Hi, I just realized the motherboard I ordered only has one IDE connector. Currently, my system has Two disk drives and one hard drive that connect through IDE. I don't mind ditching one CD drive, but is it possible to have both the hard drive and disk drive connect through the one connector on the same wire?

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myrace,

If your motherboard has only ONE IDE connector - it will only support TWO IDE devices - one set as PRIMARY and the other set as SLAVE or if Cable Select is supported and you have a CABLE SELECT IDE cable - the drives are addressed based on WHICH of the two free connectors your drive is connected to on the end of the IDE cable.

What brand/make/model of motherboard do you have? I ask because based on your description - it sounds like a fairly old system as most NEW motherboards use SATA, NOT IDE and I've not seen many motherboards out there with a SINGLE IDE controller (most have 2 - a Primary & Secondary which supports up to 4 IDE devices).

Hope this helps. If you reply with some more detail about your hardware and what you're trying to accomplish - we might be able to offer you more informed advice.

- John

[John Hook]

myrace,

If your motherboard has only ONE IDE connector - it will only support TWO IDE devices - one set as PRIMARY and the other set as SLAVE or if Cable Select is supported and you have a CABLE SELECT IDE cable - the drives are addressed based on WHICH of the two free connectors your drive is connected to on the end of the IDE cable.

What brand/make/model of motherboard do you have? I ask because based on your description - it sounds like a fairly old system as most NEW motherboards use SATA, NOT IDE and I've not seen many motherboards out there with a SINGLE IDE controller (most have 2 - a Primary & Secondary which supports up to 4 IDE devices).

Hope this helps. If you reply with some more detail about your hardware and what you're trying to accomplish - we might be able to offer you more informed advice.

- John

[myrace]

This is the motherboard I'm upgrading to:

http://www.newegg.co...N82E16813128056

I'm just trying to upgrade my current system. The mobo has SATA connections, but I don't have any devices that use them currently. It would be no problem if I had a SATA hard drive, but I've reached the limit of my budget, and can't get one. My current hard drive uses IDE, so does my DVD-RW drive. I'm just wondering if it was possible to set the hard drive to master, the DVD-RW drive to slave, and have it work.

This is the first computer I'm working on totally by myself, so that's why I have the newbie questions, thanks for the help.

[John Hook]

myrace,

YES, you should be able to configure your Hard Drive as the MASTER device on the IDE channel and your DVD ROM drive as "SLAVE" on the same cable. How you configure the drives depends on the type of IDE cable you have. First - make sure you have an 80 PIN EIDE cable as a 40 PIN cable will not support the fast UDMA hard drive acesss modes your motherboard supports (i.e. system will be SLOW). Second - if your 80 PIN EIDE cable is configured as a CABLE SELECT cable - you need to jumper BOTH drives as CS or "Cable Select" and plug your Hard drive into the END of the cable and the CD/DVD ROM drive into the middle connector. If you DO NOT have a Cable SELECT EIDE 80 pin cable - you'll need to configure your hard drive's jumpers as "Master - Slave present" and your CD/DVD ROM drive as "Slave" (using the jumpers on these drives).

Hope this helps.

PS: You should REALLY consider purchasing a SATA drive as you'll get MUCH better performance! Using IDE hard drives defeats the capabilities of your new motherboard.