HDD question

mercman_3

I currently have 2 HDD's on my computer. Is it possible to have more?

Would ideally like to add a 3rd 80GB or even better a 4th!

How is this done?

my current setup is a slave & a master

Motherboard is an MSI board running an Athalon 64 3000+ processor

I dont think i have anymore slots on the board, but i can see some SATA connections that are not being used?


cheers

Pete

nickmack

You can more or less have as many as you can plug into your motherboard and can fit in your case! More motherboards now come with 4 connnectors. Once you've plugged in CD/DVD drive, you have 3 connectors left, this is enough for 6 drives in Master/Slave combinations. You should not combine Optical drives such as DVD on the same cable as a Hard Disk.

If you do have extra SATA connectors, plug into them. If you have no connectors left you can buy additional expansion cards that have IDE/SATA ports on them to expand.

The bigger problem might be finding room in the case for them to sit. Also remember the more drives you have, the more power is drawn from the Power Supply Unit. Make sure it's giving out enough juice or you'll end up with problems.

pks00

If you run out of room internally, there is always the external hard disks. Just need a USB cable and additional electric socket.
For internal, like nickmack said, all depends on number of connectors (you can also buy power splitter connectors - if you run out of power connectors). But make sure you get a decent PSU, mine is currently 500W)

IvanOpinion

Buy an external one ... I saw a 400Gb one for less than £150 yesterday ... if I remember where I will post it on 'grabbit'. Keep your software and main data files on your internal high speed drives but use an external USB for storage of photos, videos, manuals etc. It means that if you ever replace your computer you do not have to worry about backing up and reinstalling.

Ivan