Why Can't i Use 3 HDD at Once?

joeacid SG

Hi guys,

I have 3 HDD i wanna be connected now.
1 - SATA 320GB
1 - IDE 160GB
1 - IDE 160GB

Hmm.... I want to use my SATA as my OS, so i set to prioritise and detect my SATA in BIOS 1st. Followed by the other 2 IDE ones.

But here's the problem... The Motherboard has already detected all the 3 HDD but it wun continue to the opening of the OS. My PC hang at the part where the PC show its status of the device it detected.

Currently, i had both the IDE HDD set as Cable Select. But, i have also set the alternatives.

Can anyone tell me how to solve this problem?

ndmmxiaomayi SG

I'm unsure about having 3 hard disks on a motherboard. Other than telling you that you shouldn't use cable select because you have more than one hard disks (set the jumpers manually to master and slave), I can't help more.

Maybe this would help. Some other forumers can come in to help.

joeacid SG

Hmm…. i have tried setting one of them to Master and other to slave. But even after going into BIOS and prioritized my SATA to detect 1st, the motherboard will still boot up with the HDD i’ve set on master from the jumper.

ndmmxiaomayi SG

Windows by default will boot up from the master hard disk. Try setting the jumpers for the SATA disk to be master…

joeacid SG

Erm... SATA hav jumper? hmm.... its complete different from the usual IDE HDD~ dun think i can do that~

ndmmxiaomayi SG

Oops, wrong one. Embarassed

Here's what I found:

http://testforums.wincustomize.com/index.aspx?forumid=105&aid=135798&c=1

I think it's very risky... because they talked about removing MBR. MBR is master boot record, and if it's gone, Windows will probably not start. Not too sure if this will work...

One question though, is Windows installed on the IDE drives or SATA drive?

joeacid SG

I only installed on the SATA, but i hav lotsa things on the other 2 HDD

ndmmxiaomayi SG

Hmm... by right it would boot up, unless like what the link says, IDE will be booted up first no matter what.

joeacid SG

But the case is... if i only use 1 SATA and 1 IDE, i can easily choose either one to be the master thru setting it in BIOS. But once i have 2 IDE, things juz turn out to be different... I have always been using 1 SATA to be my OS(Master) and 1 IDE to be my slave now. But i have another new IDE now and i wanna use it together. its really troublesome and might juz damage the cables if i keep changing them ard again and again~

ndmmxiaomayi SG

Not too sure liao… other forumers can help….

babymac13 SG

U backup alot of datas in ur hdd? or u running a server urself?

Just a suggestion.

Try disconnecting one of ur drive individually and see which drive is giving you problem. e.g. Mix and Match. Pair diff drive together.

joeacid SG

oh~ zzz its so weird... My Montherboard has already detected all the 3 HDD juz can't boot up with all 3. Its so weird... Maybe something's wrong with my BIOS setting...

strikefreedom SG

When u install window, u are ask to choose which harddisk you want to install to. Select your sata harddisk. Once window installation is completed, you go into ur BIOS and set your sata harddisk to 1st boot. that will do.

Else use the old method. connect ur sata harddisk only, install your window, after finishing, plug in your the other two harddisk. set your 1st boot to ur sata harddisk too.

your PATA harddisk configuration should be the same. one master and one slave. your sata should be master/single.

I have install 3 harddisk before and it work for me. Hope it help you!!!

StarPuppy SG

hmm..just wondering

Primary
Master SATA-hard drive

Secondary

Master and slave - IDE hard drives

isit?

strikefreedom SG

In a way you can think of it this way. But in actual fact, SATA and IDE are two different things, the critical part is which harddisk you install your OS and your 1st boot harddisk isit the same as the one you install your OS on.

IDE harddisk when you have two, one will be master and one for slave unless you set it to cable select which i don't fancy. i prefer to use the jumper setting.

SATA harddisk, also come in master and slave, so it the same logic as u set except that they use seperate cable compare to IDE.

joeacid SG

Hi,

Here's my case:

I have 3 HDD all with alotsa things inside.

1 SATA, 2 IDE.

Only the SATA has OS, the other 2 IDE is only full of datas w/o OS.

I have been using SATA HDD as my OS + 1 other IDE(I change them frequently), but i think changing them like this is going to damage the cable very soon, so i decide to connect all 3 together.

My problem is:

I always set my SATA HDD to boot up 1st, and then the other 2 IDE HDD.

CASE 1: When i put cable select for both the IDE HDD, i can detect all the 3 HDD in my BIOS but my PC hang at the part where it detected the 3rd HDD.

CASE 2: When i put Master on 1 of the IDE and slave for another, the PC will boot up with the IDE Master(Which has no OS) i set with my jumper. Of course there's no window for it to boot up, so it just stopped somewhere. [This just happen regardlessly even when i select in BIOS to boot up the SATA HDD 1st.

Farmerseed SG

Joe,

you have 1 sata - with OS and data
you have 1(1st) IDE - with OS and data
you have 2nd IDE - without OS and with data

no changes to your sata leave it as it is.
set 1st IDE hdd jumper to master and use the MASTER connector of your ribbon cable to connect to the motherboard IDE conn.
set 2nd IDE hdd jumper to slave and use the SLAVE connector of your ribbon cable to connect to the motherboard IDE conn.
like this you can connect any optical drives to either of the 2 IDE channels as master or slave no problem with that.
if you have 2 IDE connectors in your motherboard to avoid confusion use one channel on each IDE drive.
select the appropriate drive you want to boot up at the BIOS each time you want to switch OS/hdd instead of having to plug/ unplug cables.

if your board has JBOD better just use it on the 2 IDE drives to make them appear as one but that's another story.