Computer hardware: In Over My Head

February 2, 2009 7:07 PM

Help a poor fool fix his computer. New motherboard has only one IDE slot. Have two old hard drives and two old CD drives. What to do?

I clearly no expert at building computers, but a friend built me one several years ago, and I decided to upgrade it when my video card started malfunctioning. This was most certainly a bad idea, but I did it anyway.

The problem is, I ordered a new motherboard that I thought was exactly what I needed, but unlike my previous one it has only one IDE slot. I was using two old-ish hard drives (Western Digital, 40gb and 100gb), and two old-ish CD drives (one ASUS and one Plextor CD-R). Obviously, this leaves me without the use of 2 of the drives (wasn't obvious to me at the time... I didn't know what SATA was, still don't to some extent).

So I guess my question is, should I buy a new motherboard with 2 IDE slots, or more likely upgrade some of my drives to SATA? If I do buy new drives how would I go about transferring the data from the old ones, or making one the boot drive? I don't have a Windows disk anymore.

I would assume that I should buy a new HD, transfer data onto it and designate it the master drive, and then use the ATA cables for the CD drives. But I don't really know what I'm talking about, so some advice is needed and will be much appreciated.

posted by kurtroehl to computers & internet (11 comments total)

Having 2 optical drives is kind of pointless these days. . . all of the burning programs can pretty much copy by inserting the DVD or CD (in your case, CD only) and then putting in the -R disc. . . okay, so that takes care of one of your drives. . .

There are kits on ebay to make an hard drive external via USB, you could get that.

I don't know that you can upgrade drives to SATA. . . its not just a cable/connector thing.
posted by No New Diamonds Please at 7:12 PM on February 2

You could get a PCI card that has an extra ATA controller with two extra IDE connectors on it. I can't give a recommendation on a specific brand, but they can be purchased for under $20.
posted by demiurge at 7:13 PM on February 2

If your motherboard has a free PCI slot, you can install an IDE controller card.
posted by jedicus at 7:16 PM on February 2

No New Diamonds Please: Yea, by "upgrade to SATA" I meant buy a whole new drive, not some download or patch.

One of my questions is, if I were to purchase a new SATA drive, would I be able to transfer all Windows system data to it from my original master drive? In other words, would I be able to boot from that drive without having installed Windows on it directly from the CD, but by simply dragging and dropping all the contents of the old one into the new one?

demiurge, jedicus: that looks like the quick and cheap fix I needed, thanks.
posted by kurtroehl at 7:25 PM on February 2

if I were to purchase a new SATA drive, would I be able to transfer all Windows system data to it from my original master drive?

Yes, there's a free trial of Acronis True Image which does drive migration.

In other words, would I be able to boot from that drive without having installed Windows on it directly from the CD, but by simply dragging and dropping all the contents of the old one into the new one?

No, you have to use a special utility program for it, but it's easy.

With 1.5 TB SATA drives going for $130 now, I would advise getting one of those.
posted by kindall at 7:34 PM on February 2

I think the best answer, if you really want to keep using those drives, is to buy USB enclosures for them, and make sure you have a USB 2 interface in your computer (even if you have to install one).
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 7:44 PM on February 2

Yes, buy a new SATA drive, install your current IDE master as the main boot drive on the mobo and then use Acronis (or whatever) to dupe it to the SATA drive. Then make the SATA drive the boot drive and you should be good to go. Slightly labour intensive but functional.
posted by GuyZero at 7:52 PM on February 2

http://www.granitedigital.com/idetosatabilateralbridgeboard.aspx

Lets you use your old HDDs temporarily, and to copy. Then when you are ready, buy a new HDD which is SATA.
posted by lundman at 7:54 PM on February 2

Another cheap solution is to just replace your CD drives with a SATA replacement.
posted by strangecargo at 2:25 AM on February 3

I don't have a Windows disk anymore.

That's going to be a problem. From what I understand Windows isn't going to like it if you try to use a previous install on what's essentially a new computer.
posted by 6550 at 10:07 AM on February 3

I came to suggest what strangecargo said... for $20 - $30 you can replace two cd drives with 1 dvd burner, and then you'll be good to go on this motherboard. As a bonus, now you can burn and read DVD's.
posted by utsutsu at 10:11 AM on February 3