One way to do it without adding additional cost is to use an old ISA sound
card.  Many have IDE connections that will work perfectly with a older spare
hard drive.  I did this for several years till I bought another controller
for better speed and UDMA compatibility.  I am using Windows Server 2003
with an old ISA Creative Labs Value sound board with one IDE port (it must
be labled IDE) and it works just fine (circa 1995?), I prefer it to the more
modern PCI boards.  Device manager detects it as a Standard IDE ATA/ATAPI
controller automatically if you already have a card like this already
installed, so connecting a hard drive is very simple.  One caveat, you can
only connect one drive on your ribbon cable, just like installing the CD-ROM
it was intended for.

Howard Rubin
The Computer Doctor
Fortaleza, Brazil

RE:  Date:    Fri, 2 Jan 2004 13:25:44 -0500
From:    Kay McCoy <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: five IDE drives?

Is there a way to hook up five IDE devices to a PC?   The computer already
has two hard drives and two CD drives (one a burner).

Thanks for any help.

Kay McCoy
Automation Manager
Fayette County Public Libraries
Oak Hill, WV  25901
p/fax:  304-465-5664
http://fayette.lib.wv.us

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