If you have a fairly recent computer (like after 1994 let's say)
you should have two ribbon cables to connect Hard drives and CD
drives and other things like an IDE-Zip drive or an IDE-LS120 drive,
etc... (Four plugs for devices, total -- two per cable.)
With this card in the system you can have up to eight devices total,
(keeping your "space" and power supply limitations in mind, if any...)

If your cables are not already full, you "may" not need this add-in card...

But after that very simplistic view, it gets murky...  BIOS limitations
and the speed of your Motherboard controller come up as concerns.

IF your BIOS supports the full capacity of the drive (40G) you may
not need the card... (Your BIOS needs INT13 extensions to do this...)
Any good hard drive installation software "should" determine this for you...
A BIOS flash upgrade (if free from the board manufacturer) is a good
way to support the size of the drive in a system with no other special needs.

If your Motherboard controller is ATA66, you may not notice the difference
switching to the ATA100 connectors on the card. (This is for certain of the drive
only ATA 66... Which does not make sense since it came with the card...)

You also have to decide if you want to use up a PCI slot for a card like this...

Even if you do not use it, but might in the next two or three years, I'd keep it...
After that it will be obsolete and/or next to worthless as far as liquidating it for
cash or trade...

Sometimes cards like this require drivers for certain Operating Systems and
if not supported, it is not usable...

                           Rick Glazier

BCC: [log in to unmask]

From: "William Closure" <[log in to unmask]>
> As indicated on another thread, I am looking to install a Maxtor 40 GB hard
> drive as my primary drive, and make an existing 8 GB hard drive a slave.
> When I purchased the drive, I got a Maxtor Utra ATA/100 PCI Adapter Card,
> free after rebate.  Who was I to refuse?
>
> So, now that I have it, what is it?  What purpose does it serve?  Do I need
> it/want to install it?

                         PCBUILD's List Owners:
                      Bob Wright<[log in to unmask]>
                       Drew Dunn<[log in to unmask]>