My new computer

[Draco]

I'm now in possession of my new desktop. It's using an AMD Phenom II X4 975 3.6Ghz processor on an ASUS M4A88TD-V motherboard. My question is: how many internal hard drives can I run? I ordered a 1Tb SATA drive with it, and have a 320Gb SATA and a 300Gb IDE in this PC that I'd like to move over to the new PC because of the info stored on them. Well, and I like the idea of having more space.

 

OS is Windows 7 Professional 64bit.

 

The IDE drive is my OS drive now; Windows XP Professional. If I can run that drive also, do I need to remove the XP before installing in the new PC?

 

I'm wondering about more than 2 hard drives because my case (Raidmax Black Aeolus) has 4 hard drive bays in it. They're located in an entirely different area from the bays for CD/DVD disk drives (3 of those).

[KenB]

Hi,

 

how many internal hard drives can I run?

How many SATA ports do you have on the m/board?

If you are only adding 2 extra SATA drives this shouldn't be a problem at all.

 

do I need to remove the XP before installing in the new PC?

No.

You probably wouldn't be able to do it anyway - unless you installed it on its own partition.

If it is on C:\ (on the original computer) and you want to keep the data that is there already then it is best left alone.

[Plastic Nev]

Hi, further to kens advice, I have had a look at the mother board spec, here=

 

http://www.google.co.uk/products/catalog?hl=en&q=asus+m4a88td-v+evo&sqi=2&cid=1405057181607810447&os=tech-specs

 

According to that you should have four extra SATA ports and one IDE port for the older IDE drive so you could fill all drive bays in the box.

 

If there is room on any one of the SATA drives, you could temporarily transfer all needed data from the IDE drive with XP on it to one of the new drives. Then format the IDE drive to clear it, therefore leaving room for whatever you want after that.

 

Best of luck,

 

Nev.

[Draco]

Much as I thought. I'm still used to older systems where you're limited by that big ribbon cable. A total of 3 drives and that has to include both hard drives and CD/DVD drives.

 

So with 1 IDE plug on the motherboard, doesn't that mean that I could use up to 3 drives on the ribbon cable?

 

I know that Win7 Pro has an XP feature. Will my games work with it? A lot of them are currently on the IDE drive. If I left the XP on it, would Steam or the desktop shortcuts go to it?

 

Like I said in another forum, Win7 will befinitely be more than just a little learning curve.

[Plastic Nev]

Hi, now there is a question, programs on the XP based drive, I found with an experiment using my laptop drive in a USB caddy that programs will open from the program files list using the EXE icon on that laptop drive, so you may find that is the only way to open and run them, as to how well they run is another matter. I doubt they would be able to be made to run from a desktop icon, but worth trying to see if an icon can be created, that in itself would hold a path for Windows 7 to follow to that XP drive.

However I would really recommend installing them to the Windows 7 "C:" drive and just use the older IDE drive for data.

You should find most programs and games will run except for very old stuff.

For that you would need to download the XP virtual environment, it is free and from Microsoft here =

 

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/virtual-pc/

 

You should be OK if your system is Windows 7 Pro or above, the V.E. will not run on home premium or lower.

I do run some quite old music notation and composing programs with no trouble, and without the need for the virtual environment, so haven't found the need to download it as yet.

 

next is the idea of running up to three devices from the IDE ribbon cable, theoretically possible, in practice it may overload things a bit.

 

Nev.

[Draco]

I have the new system up and running now. I'm using the new 1Tb SATA drive as my main (OS) drive, as well as the older 320Gb SATA and 300 IDE drives for simple storage. Only mistake I made was wiping XP off the 300IDE too soon. Lost my old Outlook Express mail. Oh well, such is life.

 

Now onward and upward. I have the old IDE-type disk burner from my old PC, and would like to install it in the new PC. The only problem is this: The locations for the hard drives and the closest space for the disk burner are too far apart to allow me to use a standard IDE cable to plug them both in. I need an IDE cable with the drive connectors farther apart. I found a listing on Ebay for a Belkin cable that's 3 feet long, and wrote the seller asking the distance between plugs, but he hasn't replied. I'd really like to find a cable so that I could have a second disk burner.

[Plastic Nev]

Hi, me again, LOL;)

Rather than replacing the entire IDE cable, if there is a spare plug on the existing, I think you may be able to get a shorter extension in order to get that spare to reach where you want it, in fact I have found an extension cable here on Amazon=

 

http://www.amazon.com/40-Pin-Male-Female-Extension-Cable/dp/B0055D9KMG

 

May be all you need.

 

Nev.

[Draco]

Thanks Nev. It looks like just what I need. It should add enough length without having extra cable to keep out of the airflow for cooling. Not that I seem to have an airflow problem. The case came with 5 fans, and the Thermaltake CPU cooler has 2 fans on it. One of those runs upon bootup, and the other hasn't kicked on yet, because the CPU hasn't gotten warm enough to activate it.

 

(I'm adding 1 more fan down low, to get more airflow across the hard drives. There's not enough room in the bays for individual HD cooling fans.)

[Plastic Nev]

Sounds like you are building or near finished building one "H" of a super machine, and glad a small thing like an extension can sort the problem.

Makes you wonder about what someone could be doing to need several feet of IDE cable though doesn't it? :confused:

 

Nev.

[Draco]

While in Staples the other day, I met a man who was wearing a nametag that indicated he worked for Acer. He said he had built a BIG computer some time back and might still have an old long cable or two around. He was talking about IDE cables 4 to 6 feet long because of the size of the towers he had to connect. I guess they had them, "back in the day."

 

This case has 4 hard drive bays in the bottom of it, and space for 3 optical drives on the upper front. SATA drives would be no problem, but IDE drives space out too far apart. I just hate giving up on perfectly usable equipment like that DVD/CD burner simply because it's of an older style. If I want to copy a CD, with 2 units I can go directly from one to another without the intermediate step of copying to the hard drive, even temporarily.

[Draco]

I got a 6 inch 40-pin IDE extension cable and installed it and my older IDE-type DVD/CD burner this morning. So now, the system has the originally listed AMD Phenom II X4 975 3.6 Ghz CPU with its massive Thermaltake cooler. The cooler has 2 fans, one of which is thermostatically controlled. It has never kicked in, as far as I know. Maybe it's because there's now a total of 6 case fans. There are a total of 4 hard drives, 3 internal, 1 external, total of 2620 Gb of storage space. 16 Gb of RAM. Internal card reader. 2 DVD/CD burners. NVIDIA GeForce GT430 graphics card.

 

But I'm still looking for a sound card with the old MIDI port for game controllers that will work with Windows 7.

[Plastic Nev]

If it is any consolation at all, so am I. I need that MIDI port for the keyboard, the type with white keys for normal, black for sharps or flats type of keyboard I mean!!

Apart from M Audio who make a few PCI cards that may or may not work with W7 have a look here=

 

http://www.m-audio.com/index.php?do=products.family&ID=PCIinterfaces

 

my problem is my cheap and nasty Packard Bell machine only has PCIE ports, so can't find the right card for love or cash.

 

Otherwise, The original makers of that sort of card, "Creative sound blaster" no longer make one suitable for W7.

 

Nev.