[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > > To one and all, > > This message contains info that I personally need clarification on, as > well as if it can be done and how. > > My understanding was that systems today, on the motherboard, contain 2 > IDE channels, both containing a master and slave capability. BUT that it > ONLY could handle 2 channels, and not any more, was what I always > understood current technology allowed for Pentium based systems. > > If you can add an additional PCI IDE controller card, how would you > configure the board to avoid conflicts with the existing ones already > installed on the motherboard controller??? > > Since my system already has all 4 IDE items filled (hard drive, Zip > drive, DVD drive, CD burner drive), this is important to me. I have had > to put both the DVD and burner drives on the secondary channel, BUT can > not burn a CD directly from the DVD to burner, since the software will > not allow direct to burn when both are on the same channel - it requires > that I either put them on different channels or I have to copy to hard > drive first then burn CD. So adding a 3rd channel would help, not only > for this problem but some others I am facing as well. > > Ralph > Ralph, Your existing IDE controller is assigned two IRQ's, generally IRQ14 and IRQ15, one for the primary channel and one for the secondary channel. The IRQ, together with the master/slave designation, is the mechanism for accessing the specific drives. So with two IRQ's, and the master/ slave designations, a given IDE controller can access a total of four drives. To add another controller, you would have to have an additional two free IRQ's available. This would give you the ability to access four more drives. You *might* be able to add such a card if the add-ons already installed in your system are minimal leaving you with two free IRQ's (they may have to be sequential, like IRQ4 and IRQ5 or IRQ9 and IRQ10 but I'm not sure of this). You would have to check into your computer's IRQ usage and the IRQ requirements of the various available add-on IDE controller cards to determine if you can add one into your system. You'd probably ought to consider upgrading your power supply to a higher wattage unit (i.e., a 300 or 400 watt unit), also, to accomodate any additional drives. If you really want to 'stuff' all this wonderful stuff into a single computer, you should probably consider SCSI (Small Computer System Interface) which can handle seven, or fifteen, drive units, depending on the type of controller card (some are dual channel allowing up to thirty units, fifteen on each channel). These controller cards only require a single IRQ and can peacefully coexist with an IDE controller. However, SCSI is much more expensive but is generally considered faster and more reliable than IDE. -- *Jim McQueeney <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> *** ****** PGP ** RSA: 0x45A3FB5D ***** ****** Keys * DH.: 0xA82248FD ***** ============= PCWorks Mailing List ================= Don't see your post? Check our posting guidelines & make sure you've followed proper posting procedures, http://pcworkers.com/rules.htm Contact list owner <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Unsubscribing and other changes: http://pcworkers.com =====================================================
