Home server question about motherboard regarding IDE & SATA HDD

[Arturo Rivas]

Hi,
I got from a friend his old computer that according to him it wasn't working anymore. The MB its a Gigabyte GA-8I848p-G, I got it running. My idea for the computer is to use it as a small media server to stream to my tv's.
Now here comes the question, this motherboard has 2 IDE ports and 2 SATA ports, Can I use ALL of the ports? I want to get it fill with HD's to save all my media, thats why I am asking. Will it work with all the ports full? I dont want to spend money in a entire new computer right now, I dont know if it can work with all IDE used plus adding 2 SATA HD.

I want it to end like this:
IDE 1,
200 GB HD MASTER
DVD\DVD-RW SLAVE
IDE 2,
320 GB MASTER
320 GB SLAVE
SATA 1,
1.5 TB
SATA 2,
1.5 TB

I am just missing right now the sata HDD's and plan on buying them but I want to be sure.

I have the manual but it doesn't say anything about conflicts or something, do you guys know anything about it?

Here is the link for the MB specs and manual

http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=1769#sp

 

[DelJo63]

I recall comments re mixed IDE + SATA but don't recall the specific reference.

What should work is:

• bootable system on one device (eg IDE)
• storage device(s) shared (eg SATA)

 

[CMH]

I don't see why it wouldn't work. I'd recommend the boot drive be on the biggest drive (they tend to be much much faster) even if you would need to partition it separately.

Also, those small drives (200gb, 320gb) could probably do with a replacement. HDDs don't last forever, 5 years is high time to get them replaced. For businesses who depend on their PCs to run, a replacement every 3 years might even be recommended.

But like I said, if you plugged them in (be aware that IDE master/slave connectors should be positioned properly) they should work.

 

[SNGX1275]

In my experience, it works fine, I was using an ASRock 775VSTA board when doing that. I've also had a few friends use different boards with both and not had problems. But Jobeard is right - there have been people here complaining about problems, but there was (iirc) never really enough evidence or confirmation by anyone else that it was not going to work on their board.

I think the likely cause of problems when someone experiences them with using both, is that they just have something incorrectly configured in the BIOS. Remember that IDE jumpers have to be set correctly and that SATA doesn't have a Master Slave relationship. Some SATA drive have jumpers on them, but they are not used for Master Slave relationships, they are used for legacy mode (forcing SATA I on a SATA II drive for example) and maybe a couple other things that I'm forgetting right now... If you look on a SATA drive label it will probably tell you - I know a WD Green 2TB drive I have has 3 different ways you can configure a jumper, but it natively runs without any.

 

[Arturo Rivas]

Thanks all of you, I already updated the bios on the board and I am now on the final installation (I did a couple for testing) now I am facing other issue but its software related, so its not relevant for the hardware forum. Once I get it up and running and maybe a couple of months of using it I will build a better one with more storage. Its incredible how technology has advanced, I remember 20 years ago it was like science fiction to think in something like this, the only reason I need a tv signal now its to watch sports, news and special events, all the other stuff I dont need it.

Kudos! (y)

 

[Row1]

Heat. A single drive or SSD drives could be controlled without special strategy, but 4 HDD in one box may require that the air path in and out of box be examined to make sure air is really getting drawn over the 4 drives, or ther should be a fan sitting on the middle two, etc. They will generate a lot of heat that will sit there unless moved. The MB may give HDD temp info so you can check to see if they are in the normal range.