Guest Fan924 Posted March 21, 2008 Posted March 21, 2008 You are limited to 4 IDE drives. Are there any limitations in the number of USB drives?
Guest MEB Posted March 21, 2008 Posted March 21, 2008 Re: USB Drives "Fan924" <a924fan@yahoo.com> wrote in message news:ee054c29-5876-48e8-a306-abd2f990a888@e6g2000prf.googlegroups.com... | You are limited to 4 IDE drives. Are there any limitations in the | number of USB drives? USB is limited by the number of physically connected devices [root and subs], when the shared frequency and voltage are exceeded. These are shared by the devices directly connected to the *main* connectors. The number of connectors per motherboard or device extends this, such as having 4 instead of two but only if the motherboard actually supplies extra rather than splitting between the 4 connectors. Using powered hubs extends that capability by not using the motherboard supplied, but by creating its own and passing that back to the computer. http://noccc.org/bytes/articles/v01/326.html - USB Explained: Is the Universal Serial Bus for You? -- MEB http://peoplescounsel.orgfree.com -- _________
Guest MEB Posted March 21, 2008 Posted March 21, 2008 Re: USB Drives Sorry, posted that before delving into the data base very far. Here's a exploration into USB and configurations [though via Linux]. http://www.alleft.com/projects/lj_hydra.shtml - Project: Hydra the USB Multiheaded Monster -- MEB http://peoplescounsel.orgfree.com -- _________
Guest Fan924 Posted March 21, 2008 Posted March 21, 2008 Re: USB Drives I do not have to give up an IDE drive to add a USB drive? Correct?
Guest Gary S. Terhune Posted March 21, 2008 Posted March 21, 2008 Re: USB Drives Correct. I have tons of both. -- Gary S. Terhune MS-MVP Shell/User http://www.grystmill.com "Fan924" <a924fan@yahoo.com> wrote in message news:f4a718e1-b82c-4468-bd8d-d50b1b9c3668@i12g2000prf.googlegroups.com... >I do not have to give up an IDE drive to add a USB drive? Correct?
Guest Mike Y Posted March 22, 2008 Posted March 22, 2008 Re: USB Drives "Fan924" <a924fan@yahoo.com> wrote in message news:ee054c29-5876-48e8-a306-abd2f990a888@e6g2000prf.googlegroups.com... > You are limited to 4 IDE drives. Are there any limitations in the > number of USB drives? Who said? I've seen BIOS's that support 8. And I've seen setups with over 16 drives, with multiple cards...
Guest Brian A. Posted March 22, 2008 Posted March 22, 2008 Re: USB Drives "Mike Y" <joe@user.com> wrote in message news:1NZEj.53$sg1.36@newsfe06.lga... > > "Fan924" <a924fan@yahoo.com> wrote in message > news:ee054c29-5876-48e8-a306-abd2f990a888@e6g2000prf.googlegroups.com... >> You are limited to 4 IDE drives. Are there any limitations in the >> number of USB drives? > > Who said? I've seen BIOS's that support 8. And I've seen setups with > over 16 drives, with multiple cards... > > > > Just curious, you've seen mobos with more than 2 IDE controller connections or are you talking about Daisy Chaining? Of course as well, more than 4 can be used with Add-on cards which have their own BIOS, but I haven't seen a mobo that had more than 2 IDE controllers and it would be risky IMHO to use a Ribbon Data cable with more than two IDE drive connectors. -- Brian A. Sesko { MS MVP_Windows Desktop User Experience } Conflicts start where information lacks. http://basconotw.mvps.org/ Suggested posting do's/don'ts: http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm How to ask a question: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555375
Guest Lil' Dave Posted March 22, 2008 Posted March 22, 2008 Re: USB Drives "Fan924" <a924fan@yahoo.com> wrote in message news:ee054c29-5876-48e8-a306-abd2f990a888@e6g2000prf.googlegroups.com... > You are limited to 4 IDE drives. Are there any limitations in the > number of USB drives? You are limited to 2 ide ports per onboard ide interface chip. Each port can handle two hard drives. A few mobo makers added an aftermarket ide interface chip for more in some cases. An ide inteface card may be added having 2 ide ports as well. Did not use the word "controller" as in the case of ide, its located on the ide drive itself. One realistic limitation of many online USB hard drives is usability. You are limited to the number of drive letters for designating a partitions. Another is if a self-powered version. In the real world, most people tax out the PC at 3 or 4 USB drives online at the same time. Have heard declarations of up to 12 in use simultaneously online. -- Dave
Guest ... et al. Posted March 25, 2008 Posted March 25, 2008 Re: USB Drives Brian A. wrote: > "Mike Y" <joe@user.com> wrote: > >> >> "Fan924" <a924fan@yahoo.com> wrote: >> >>> You are limited to 4 IDE drives. Are there any limitations in the >>> number of USB drives? >> >> Who said? I've seen BIOS's that support 8. And I've seen setups with >> over 16 drives, with multiple cards... >> > > Just curious, you've seen mobos with more than 2 IDE controller > connections or are you talking about Daisy Chaining? Of course as well, > more than 4 can be used with Add-on cards which have their own BIOS, but > I haven't seen a mobo that had more than 2 IDE controllers and it would > be risky IMHO to use a Ribbon Data cable with more than two IDE drive > connectors. > What /Lil' Dave/ posted. Example-pictures (A7V333 RAID): <http://www.hardocp.com/images/articles/1028579813qby1Orpcol_1_2_l.jpg> connectors closeup: <http://www.hardocp.com/images/articles/1028579813qby1Orpcol_2_13_l.jpg> Can be used for HDD's ordinarily without RAIDing them. -- Nah-ah. I'm staying out of this. ... Now, here's my opinion. Please followup in the newsgroup. E-mail address is invalid due to spam-control.
Guest Mike Y Posted March 25, 2008 Posted March 25, 2008 Re: USB Drives "Brian A." <gonefish'n@afarawaylake> wrote in message news:eny6UC9iIHA.4684@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl... > "Mike Y" <joe@user.com> wrote in message news:1NZEj.53$sg1.36@newsfe06.lga... > > > > "Fan924" <a924fan@yahoo.com> wrote in message > > news:ee054c29-5876-48e8-a306-abd2f990a888@e6g2000prf.googlegroups.com... > >> You are limited to 4 IDE drives. Are there any limitations in the > >> number of USB drives? > > > > Who said? I've seen BIOS's that support 8. And I've seen setups with > > over 16 drives, with multiple cards... > > > > > > > > > > Just curious, you've seen mobos with more than 2 IDE controller connections or are > you talking about Daisy Chaining? Of course as well, more than 4 can be used with > Add-on cards which have their own BIOS, but I haven't seen a mobo that had more than > 2 IDE controllers and it would be risky IMHO to use a Ribbon Data cable with more > than two IDE drive connectors. > > I'm not sure if I've seen it in 'consumer' equipment, but I've seen it in industrial equipment. All the BIOS has to do is dynamically ID the drive, and that's not hard to do. And even then it's really only necessary to init the drive. Stuff like ATADRV used to handle drives dynamically, using the ID command only for the ATAINIT (the equivalent of FDISK) and after that it read the drive to figure it out. ATADRV just used to assume that any drive was a 20meg unit until it read from the drive and then changed to what it really was. You can't put more than two drives on one cable. At least in the PC-AT type IDE world. That's because there's a 'master/slave' relationship, not a numbered sequence relationship.
Guest Brian A. Posted March 26, 2008 Posted March 26, 2008 Re: USB Drives "Mike Y" <joe@user.com> wrote in message news:xfeGj.592$UJ6.166@newsfe06.lga... > > "Brian A." <gonefish'n@afarawaylake> wrote in message > news:eny6UC9iIHA.4684@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl... >> "Mike Y" <joe@user.com> wrote in message > news:1NZEj.53$sg1.36@newsfe06.lga... >> > >> > "Fan924" <a924fan@yahoo.com> wrote in message >> > news:ee054c29-5876-48e8-a306-abd2f990a888@e6g2000prf.googlegroups.com... >> >> You are limited to 4 IDE drives. Are there any limitations in the >> >> number of USB drives? >> > >> > Who said? I've seen BIOS's that support 8. And I've seen setups with >> > over 16 drives, with multiple cards... >> > >> > >> > >> > >> >> Just curious, you've seen mobos with more than 2 IDE controller > connections or are >> you talking about Daisy Chaining? Of course as well, more than 4 can be > used with >> Add-on cards which have their own BIOS, but I haven't seen a mobo that had > more than >> 2 IDE controllers and it would be risky IMHO to use a Ribbon Data cable > with more >> than two IDE drive connectors. >> >> > > I'm not sure if I've seen it in 'consumer' equipment, but I've seen it in > industrial > equipment. All the BIOS has to do is dynamically ID the drive, and that's > not > hard to do. And even then it's really only necessary to init the drive. > Stuff like > ATADRV used to handle drives dynamically, using the ID command only > for the ATAINIT (the equivalent of FDISK) and after that it read the drive > to figure it out. ATADRV just used to assume that any drive was a 20meg > unit until it read from the drive and then changed to what it really was. > Thanks for that info. After seeing et al's response I can never say I have never seen one again. > You can't put more than two drives on one cable. At least in the PC-AT type > IDE world. That's because there's a 'master/slave' relationship, not a > numbered sequence relationship. I realize that, had a senior moment. -- ---- ---- Brian A. Sesko { MS MVP_Windows Desktop User Experience } Conflicts start where information lacks. http://basconotw.mvps.org/ Suggested posting do's/don'ts: http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm How to ask a question: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555375 ---- ----
Guest Brian A. Posted March 26, 2008 Posted March 26, 2008 Re: USB Drives "... et al." <look@sig.bcause.this.is.invalid> wrote in message news:etm%23iorjIHA.1184@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl... > Brian A. wrote: > >> "Mike Y" <joe@user.com> wrote: >> >>> >>> "Fan924" <a924fan@yahoo.com> wrote: >>> >>>> You are limited to 4 IDE drives. Are there any limitations in the >>>> number of USB drives? >>> >>> Who said? I've seen BIOS's that support 8. And I've seen setups with >>> over 16 drives, with multiple cards... >>> >> >> Just curious, you've seen mobos with more than 2 IDE controller connections >> or are you talking about Daisy Chaining? Of course as well, more than 4 can >> be used with Add-on cards which have their own BIOS, but I haven't seen a >> mobo that had more than 2 IDE controllers and it would be risky IMHO to use a >> Ribbon Data cable with more than two IDE drive connectors. >> > > What /Lil' Dave/ posted. > > Example-pictures (A7V333 RAID): > <http://www.hardocp.com/images/articles/1028579813qby1Orpcol_1_2_l.jpg> > connectors closeup: > <http://www.hardocp.com/images/articles/1028579813qby1Orpcol_2_13_l.jpg> > > Can be used for HDD's ordinarily without RAIDing them. Don't see a response by Lil Dave that has those links, thanks for sharing. -- ---- ---- Brian A. Sesko { MS MVP_Windows Desktop User Experience } Conflicts start where information lacks. http://basconotw.mvps.org/ Suggested posting do's/don'ts: http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm How to ask a question: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555375 ---- ----
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