IDE cable "splitter" ??

So I bought a new screamin' Dell (3GHz, 2GB 667MHz RAM, 256MB nVidia 6800) with a 250GB SATA drive. Before I ordered it, Dell assured me that it had standard A & B channel IDE connectors on the motherboard, just like the usual PC's of old. When I got it, guess what, only one IDE channel, with the CD burner and DVD drive attached.

I need to be able to use at least one of my old IDE hard drives in this machine and so Dell told me to get an "IDE cable splitter ". Has anyone ever heard of this? I thought you could only have 2 devices on any one IDE channel. Will this cause any peroformance issues?

I know I could just go buy another SATA drive instead, but I don't want to pop for another 500GB worth of hard drive capacity when I already own it and Dell told me I would be able to hook them up.

Thanks,
Mark

 

Not an "IDE ribbon cable splitter" (never heard of such) but, a possible simple solution?

BYTECC BT-200 USB2.0 to IDE Cable With Power Adapter
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16812156101

 

I'd assume that a USB-to-IDE converter would greatly inhibit the speed of your hard drive. Also, from the looks of it, it's meant to be used for external drives.

Why not just slap an PCI IDE controller card in a PCI slot? Promise has been known to make very good ones. It might add a couple of seconds to your boot time as they have their own bios but I think that would be a good way to go.

Also, I'm assuming that the Dell CSR was talking out of an orifice other than the usual one.

Gary

 

I am pretty sure you cannot split an IDE cable. IDE will only support two devices per bus. If you could split it people would have been filling their desktop PC with loads of drives year ago. Duff support information if you ask me.

SpywareDr IDE to USB cable solution is good if you just want to be able to connect the drive to copy some data accross to the new drive. If you want a more permenant solution, I'd recommend getting a USB IDE drive caddy. Something like this. You should be able to get one cheaper that that I think (the suppliers I use are all UK based so probably not of use to you). USB2 to IDE is pretty quick, but it will not be as quick as having the drive connected directly to the motherboard via the IDE bus. But for every day operation it is usually quick enough.

One problem you may have with using a promise IDE card, is where do you install the hard drive. Make sure you have a spare slot in the case before buying the card if you take that route!

 

Actually this is probably a better enclosure option. About the price I'd expect to pay too!

 

Yes, I think I am going to have to go with a PCI card IDE interface. Now to see if I will have a free slot of the correct type. I also see that the card I am looking at has an 18" cable length restriction which may be an issue.

BTW, I have yet to find a "cable splitter" for an IDE interface nor have I found anywhere that describes how the IDE protocol allows for a third device on one channel.