[DriveRaider]

Hey guys, as some of you know already im building a new computer, my parts include: 2 sticks of 1024 mb XMS2 800 mhz Dual Channel corsair ram, core 2 duo e6500, ultra aluminus case, xfx 680i SLI lt mobo, and a 500 watt OCZ psu. the video card i couldnt get because im broke but at least i have the ability to stick 1 in later or 2 if i can afford. i have a few questions though about some parts im adding. the board is here http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2959594&CatId=2541 and it only has 1 IDE ultra ata 100 connection and i have 2 hard drives from my dads old comp that only have IDE connections not SATA. and my dads 2 old cd bunners also only support the IDE connection. my question is, 1 am i going to be able to connect 2 hard drives with only 1 connection? or can i use my dads old IDE cables that have 2 heads, link of what i mean > http://www.firefold.com/images/products/IDE-3C-24.jpg to connect both hard drives with a single cable. and also, these hard drives have not been reformated since his old computer failed, so it has all the previous drivers from the outdated computer in them, will this be a problem when i drop in all my new hardware? will it try to read hardware that isnt there and screw up my system? what should i do about the IDE only optical drives? should i junk them and get a cheap SATA drive? thanks guys i know this is a long thread but i need help from the best.

[DriveRaider]

when i have both hard drives with 1 cable i have to have 1 as a master and the other as a slave? also, does anyone know of a good online video tut that shows you how to install everything? thanks in advance.

[devvil]

hey dude

IDE cables always had two "heads", so no problems there.
to connect two hdds you have to connect the BLACK IDE to maste hdd and the GREY one to the other hdd. I know this because when I was "organizing the guts of my older computer I screw that up.
 Only problem I see here is how you are going to connect a CD/DVD drive( I

[DriveRaider]

is there a difference between a hard drive IDE cable and a optical drives IDE cable? or are they interchangeable?

[devvil]

I  think they are interchangeble, but hdd IDE cables usually come with a blue black and grey colored connections for easyer instalations.

And there

[DriveRaider]

what about all the old hardware info from the old comp? this wont mess anything up will it? i just connect everything, boot up, and uninstall the old hardware?

[devvil]

uhhh

that I do not know better send knot werth smitty or knott a PM

I heard that the computer wont boot up if the hardware info on the hdd is diferent from what it supposed to be. I dunno if it

[DriveRaider]

thanks devvil, can anyone else help me? come on guys, i need to build this thing already.

[devvil]

if someone doesn

[smitty1258]

if you move a HD from a mb with windows on it, to a new MB and think that it will boot windows, it will not happen

back up the stuff, reformat, and install.

[gren]

thanks devvil, can anyone else help me? come on guys, i need to build this thing already.

come on mumble, I'll help ya out.

[DriveRaider]

thanks gren, you da best =D

[DriveRaider]

the hard drive im going to use in my rig says ATA/133. is this compatible with ATA 100? or will this screw something up?

[gren]

the hard drive im going to use in my rig says ATA/133. is this compatible with ATA 100? or will this screw something up?

It is compatible.The problem you got is one IDE header will only fit 2 devices,but you need 3 for both your HDs and dvd-rw.
You could only use one of your harddrive for now and get a pci  ide card later,or get a new sata dvd-rw.

[DriveRaider]

yep gren you hit that nail on the head. I did get a SATA dvd burner. i found an old external hdd and formatted it. its specs are 250 gb ata 133 and the other hard drive is 200 gb. my dad has his files on the 200 gb one. i have the 250 as master and the 200 as the slave. my question is, i want to be sure my dads files are safe. so can i install windows with only the 250gb one connected and connect the 200 gb one later as a slave. in my computer experience i wouldnt think there would be a problem but its always good to be sure.