sata raid control

[reaper]

hi

i want and need to install another hard drive inside my pc but how am i meant to know what controllers i have in my pc ect....

does anyone know what they are normally in vaio's

what hard drive is installed already ?

normally pc's are meant to have four of these connections so i have read ....... but i'm not to sure what connects to them

can someone plz
give me some info on this matter

thanks regards ben

[kee-lo_]

VAIOs use IEDE.
You can get a SATA PCI card quite cheap if needs be.

[reaper]

yo kee-lo can you explain what the pci card consist of plz

like will i just beable to connect a hard drive to it or will it make my other controllers compatible with sata drives

thanks
ben

[kee-lo_]

Ben,

The PCI card is like your soundcard, but instead of sound it has SATA sockets, so you can plug in your hard disks. Of course these sockets are internal, so it's like plugging in a hard disk.

[reaper]

cool thanks for your help

[VAIOneer]

Most PCs have 2 IDE sockets on the motherboard.Each is capable of handling 2 IDE devices, so you should be able to connect upto 4 devices (eg. 4 hard drives).Now, if you have a hard drive and a CD, then that gives you the option to only atach 2 more devices (HDD or CD drives).One way to check is to open up and see what is attached to each cable, as each cable has 3 connectors;1 on teh motherboard, one to each device.Some motherboards will have 4 IDE connectors on the motherboard, but these generally apply to slightly higher spec motherboards, and are often couple with onboard RAID controllers (RAID 0, 1 & 0+1).As for SATA - if your motherboard does not support it, then as Kee-Lo said, your best option is to purchase one (it'll come in PCI format) and slot into a white/cream slot on your motherboard.Any other questions, let me know.

_________________________________________________________________
VAIOneer

noun
1. a Club VAIO member who is one of the first to do something.
2. a Club VAIO member who helps establish a community.
adj.
Of, relating to, or characteristic of early members: the VAIOneer spirit.

[reaper]

hi thanks for all your help vaioneer

i have two drive's dvd rom dvd-/+rw drive and one hard drive

which all came preinstalled so i took it that there is four connections in my vaio and is enough room for another hard drive

and i have chosen to purchuse a western digital ata100 int ide hdd 7200rpm

can someone give me some feed back on this item before i decide to buy it

and thanks again for all your help
regards ben

[kee-lo_]

What size is the hard disk.

ATA100 should be prefect.

[reaper]

hi kee-lo and vaioneer

i have got the hard drive and i opened my pc to install it it all seems pretty simple,,, its all new to me thou i have only been using a pc for around 8 - 9 months....

anyway the problem i seem to encounter is this

i have to install the new hard drive that i got onto a different dma controller to the one that is already installed and by just looking at it the only way i can do this is if i remove one of my dvd drives

is this true ........
the hard drive that is already installed is running on p7 and p6 is the one that is free and i take it that these are both on the same controller.......

if so i need to unistall my dvd rom drive (hoping the other drive plays dvd roms ????) dvd +/- rw

do i unistall it on my pc first or take it out of my pc then umistall it

can some one plz give me some info on this matter

thanks again for all your help
regards ben

[reaper]

yes it is the perfect size