Is it possible to install three hard drives? If yes then how?
2007-02-23 03:14:08 · 12 answers · asked by Matthew 1 in Computers & Internet ➔ Hardware ➔ Other - Hardware
Look inside your computer. You should have to IDE cable slots for two cables. Each cable can support 2 IDE drives, so that makes 4. But this includes your CD ROM, Zip drives and hard drives.
One each cable, you might select Cable Select mode. Be sure that all of the drives are configured for that. Usually, there is a jumper and label that indicates the setting for CS.
If you use Master/Slave, then set one drive on each cable to MASTER and set the other to SLAVE. If your other cable will have only one drive, then set that to MASTER.
Go for it.
Good luck and Happy Computing!
2007-02-23 03:19:52 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
The one thing you should remember if you do this, is that the IDE bus is only as fast as the slowest device on the cable. So if you have a hard drive and a CD/DVD drive on the same cable, the hard drive will be slowed down to the speed of the CD/DVD drive. Also, most motherboards only have one UltraATA166 connector (the blue IDE connector). The second channel is usually for optical drives and therefore is slower (ATA33) The best thing to do is buy a SATA (Serial ATA) hard drive and a PCI SATA controller card (unless of course your motherboard has SATA ports onboard). SATA cards can support 2 or 4 drives, and are independent of the IDE drives. SATA is also faster than IDE, and the cables are much much thinner so they're easier to work with and don't restrict airflow in the case.
PS to Biggles: You are incorrect. The master/slave setting does not designate the drive letter or boot sequence. That is done by the BIOS and/or the operating system. The master/slave setting simply tells the motherboard which device on the cable it is talking to. Each IDE cable has a master and a slave connection. In the case of an UltraATA cable, there is a black and a gray connector. Black is master, gray is slave. Blue goes to the motherboard. The 'Cable Select' option requires an UltraATA cable to work. If you set two drives on the same cable to Slave, the motherboard will not see either one. Just set the end drive on each cable to master, and the middle one on each cable to slave.
2007-02-23 03:40:01 · answer #2 · answered by Taz 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Well, the number of Hard drives you can install on a computer depends on the model of the computer, the motherboard, and the case design.
Some FULL TOWER cases can support 4 or more harddrives, if you bought your computer from a vendor (HP, Dell, Compaq) it is most likely a mid-tower case and can only fit 2 internal hard disks.
If that's the case, then you may consider going out and buying an external harddrive!
Remember, when installing a hard drive make sure you look up your computer model, or find your manual to make sure you're completely the installation correctly!
Hope this helps!
Good Luck.
2007-02-23 03:18:58 · answer #3 · answered by Jasper H 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
short answer yes,
CAUTION CAUTION CAUTION THE EXPLAINATION IS BREIF AND YOU NEED TO HAVE SOME EXPERIENCE TO DO THIS !!!
most mother boards have 2 ide ports the primary and the secondary these ports support two drives each
the big question is are you just using the HD for storage or for multi operating systems for storage it's easy setup the first HD as a master and load windows on it then add the second HD as a slave (there are a few different ways of doing this but i'm going to show you the xp way ) control panel > admistrative tools>disk management highlight drive format on the secondary ide setup the third HD setup as master follow same procedure. MULTI BOOT TOO MUCH TO EXPLAIN HERE!
2007-02-23 03:47:46 · answer #4 · answered by jax rax 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If your hard drives are ATA (IDE) then you can fit three hard drives but you'll have to give up one of your DVD/Cd drives as you'll need the IDE connector on that cable.
If you mother board supports serial ATA then you can fit as many hard drives as you like within reason that is if in My Computer is showing more than two hard drives than the chances are you have one disk or more partitioned.
All extra drives should be set at slave or cable select with only the C:\ drive set at master.
To be fare though you don't need more than two drives because you can have something like 1000 gig of storage more than enough for most people.
2007-02-23 03:21:25 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
yes.
if you are using IDE to connect, then you can install up to 4 drives (cd/dvd included).
if you are using SATA as a connector to the drives, then you can install more.
to do it is pretty easy. SATA - just buy the drives and stick them in your box and connect the SATA power and connector cables and off you go. Same with IDE except you need to make sure that the drives are set up correctly according to their position on the cable (2 drives per cable). I have box with 4 harddrives, using ide and sata and it works fine...
2007-02-23 03:19:13 · answer #6 · answered by huangporules 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Most motherboards have two Controller connections which you can connect 2 drives (each) to.
2007-02-23 03:18:23 · answer #7 · answered by mrresearchman 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It depends on your case and your motherboard. And of course one can have a practically unlimited number of external hard drives.
2007-02-23 03:17:46 · answer #8 · answered by Chris A 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I have 4 in my box..2 on each IDE port. If you have a SCSI port, you can have up to 7 on each line.
2007-02-23 03:19:31 · answer #9 · answered by credo quia est absurdum 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes, as long as you have a mounting slot and a secondary IDE cable available.
2007-02-23 03:19:10 · answer #10 · answered by Randy W 1 · 1⤊ 0⤋