SATA hard drive question

  • Thread starter Thread starter The Seabat
  • Start date Start date
T

The Seabat

Think I'm going to go with a SATA 160GB hard drive in my new box and
was wondering if it is possible to run a SATA drive with a regular IDE
(PATA) drive also as a storage unit? Will this require a whole bunch
of configuration or will they both run fine together? I don't really
need the IDE drive, but have a lot of backed up data on it which would
be nicer to transfer and use than putting onto a DVD disc. Besides,
why waste a couple of 40GB IDE drives if I don't have to. I don't
intend to use them as back ups, like in a RAID1, just extra storage.

Thanks.
 
The Seabat said:
Think I'm going to go with a SATA 160GB hard drive in my
new box and was wondering if it is possible to run a SATA
drive with a regular IDE (PATA) drive also as a storage unit?
Yes.

Will this require a whole bunch of configuration
Click to expand...

Nope. Just set the sata controller to run in ATA
mode in the bios and thats all you need to do.
or will they both run fine together?
Yep.

I don't really need the IDE drive, but have a lot of backed up data on it
which would be nicer to transfer and use than putting onto a DVD disc.
Sure.

Besides, why waste a couple of 40GB IDE drives if I don't have to. I
don't intend to use them as back ups, like in a RAID1, just extra storage.
Click to expand...

It'll work fine.
 
The Seabat said:
Think I'm going to go with a SATA 160GB hard drive in my new box and
was wondering if it is possible to run a SATA drive with a regular IDE
(PATA) drive also as a storage unit? Will this require a whole bunch
of configuration or will they both run fine together? I don't really
need the IDE drive, but have a lot of backed up data on it which would
be nicer to transfer and use than putting onto a DVD disc. Besides,
why waste a couple of 40GB IDE drives if I don't have to. I don't
intend to use them as back ups, like in a RAID1, just extra storage.

Thanks.
Click to expand...

No problem at all. I'd suggest you hook up the IDE drives after installing
windows, though. Sometimes windows will assign drive letters starting with
the first IDE drive and then going on from there. You wouldn't want your C:
drive to be a 40GB IDE. Nothing wrong with that, but if you wanted to use
the IDE drives as extra space, I assume you want windows to install to the
SATA drive. -Dave
 
Just as a warning, if you do this...

That's what I did on my last build. XP was working fine on my new SATA
drive. Plugged in my old PATA drive, and suddenly I couldn't boot. My Asus
board (P5LD2) decided to make the PATA drive the default boot drive
suddenly. And it was nested a couple of levels deep in the BIOS settings,
so it wasn't obvious what was screwed up.

Just a warning to check that out if you have issues after plugging in the
PATA drive(s). There was a thread awhile ago, started by "itemyar" with
this same issue.

Clint
 
I had 2 sata and 2 pata(now only 1 pata) drives and they ran fine without
having to do any setting up in bios(other than putting setting to AUTO). The
only problem that I ever had was running a hard drive that was so old it did
not tolerate UDMA settings(2-3 gig drive), which caused enough trouble I had
to reformat again. If the drive is no older than 2-3 years, perhaps 80 gigs
and bigger, you shouldn't have any problems. I had a samsung 20 gig that ran
UDMA no problems. If your drive is too old, back every thing up on dvd
media, don't attach the drive....ever.

--
Love and Teach, Not Yell and Beat
Stop Violence and Child Abuse.
No such thing as Bad Kids. Only Bad Parents.
Friends don't turn friends on to drugs.
The path often thought about and sometimes chosen by abused children as
adults is Suicide. Be a real friend.

A64 3500+, Gigabyte GA-K8NSC-939,AIW 9800 Pro 128mb
MSI 550 Pro, X-Fi, Pioneer 110D, 111D
Antec 550 watt,Thermaltake Lanfire,2 Gb Dual Ch OCZ Platinum
2XSATA 320gb Raid Edition, PATA 120Gb
XP MCE2005, 19in Viewsonic,BenchMark 2001 SE- 19074
Games I'm Playing- Falcon 4, winSPWW2, winSPMBT, Call of Duty War Chest
 
The Seabat said:
Think I'm going to go with a SATA 160GB hard drive in my new box and
was wondering if it is possible to run a SATA drive with a regular IDE
(PATA) drive also as a storage unit? Will this require a whole bunch
of configuration or will they both run fine together? I don't really
need the IDE drive, but have a lot of backed up data on it which would
be nicer to transfer and use than putting onto a DVD disc. Besides,
why waste a couple of 40GB IDE drives if I don't have to. I don't
intend to use them as back ups, like in a RAID1, just extra storage.

Thanks.
Click to expand...

I do it with no problems at all. I have one 500g SATA raid0 array and
another 500g IDE (PATA) raid0 array for video work and video storage. I also
have one single SATA and a single PATA for my OS/Apps and games. Depending
on how your bios for your MB assigns the drives will depend on what will be
drive '0' or C:. Since I have found very little real-time differences in
speed between the SATA and IDE drives, I just used the IDE for my OS and
apps since XP wanted to default to that drive anyway. Since you want the IDE
drive for additional storage, just don't install it until after you install
the OS, or just select the SATA drive as the system drive during install.
Another way to go is to get a USB 2 enclosure (make sure it supports large
drives in case you want to add a large drive later) and keep your data safe
"off system". I got my USB 2.0 enclosure not long ago and found that it will
not support any drives larger than 120gb........So they are out there. Once
I got the external enclosure I find I use it a lot, especially for backing
up my photos and other valuable data along with network backups.

Ed
 
Back
Top