My system has a Seagate ST3120026A hard drive as master on the first PATA
controller. On the second PATA controller I have a BenQ DW1655 DVDRW drive
as master. This is on a DFI Lanparty UT nF4 UltraD mainboard.

I trying add a Maxtor 4R120L0 PATA drive. I'm hoping to use the drive
strictly for backups. Ghosting images to the drive, copying important items
to it, etc.

I'm having some problems. With the Maxtor installed as a slave on the
secondary controller it interfered with the BenQ drive. I was no longer able
to select the BenQ as a boot device. I also had issues creating images using
Ghost and Acronis. I switched the BenQ to slave and Maxtor to master and can
now boot from the BenQ, but imaging still fails.

I've disconnected the BenQ drive and now have no problems creating image
files on the Maxtor. All goes well. The IDE cable connecting the drives is a
new 80 wire cable.

I'd try the Maxtor connected to the first PATA controller as a slave, but
that means moving drives around inside the case and very awkward cabling.
I'll probably end up doing this, or installing a SATA drive for my main
system to replace the Seagate, but I was wondering if there were any known
problems, etc. that I should be looking for.

Comments?

On Mon, 05 Feb 2007 19:00:16 GMT, "Noozer"
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>My system has a Seagate ST3120026A hard drive as master on the first PATA
>controller. On the second PATA controller I have a BenQ DW1655 DVDRW drive
>as master. This is on a DFI Lanparty UT nF4 UltraD mainboard.
>
>I trying add a Maxtor 4R120L0 PATA drive. I'm hoping to use the drive
>strictly for backups. Ghosting images to the drive, copying important items
>to it, etc.
>
>I'm having some problems. With the Maxtor installed as a slave on the
>secondary controller it interfered with the BenQ drive. I was no longer able
>to select the BenQ as a boot device.

Was this BenQ drive showing up as detected by the bios at
that point?



>I also had issues creating images using
>Ghost and Acronis. I switched the BenQ to slave and Maxtor to master and can
>now boot from the BenQ, but imaging still fails.
>
>I've disconnected the BenQ drive and now have no problems creating image
>files on the Maxtor. All goes well. The IDE cable connecting the drives is a
>new 80 wire cable.
>
>I'd try the Maxtor connected to the first PATA controller as a slave, but
>that means moving drives around inside the case and very awkward cabling.
>I'll probably end up doing this, or installing a SATA drive for my main
>system to replace the Seagate, but I was wondering if there were any known
>problems, etc. that I should be looking for.
>
>Comments?
>

Does "installed as slave" mean you had jumpered each device
as Master/Slave, and Master was on the end of the cable, OR
did you jumper either or both as Cable Select?

Something else that comes to mind (since I just came across
the situation again today) is a bad IDE cable. It's a pity
that something as important as drives/data relies on such a
crude arrangement as thin wires and insulation displacement
pins, as movement of the cable can cause an intermittent
connection in some cases, particularly with the rounded
cables that don't have a plastic sheeting over the area
adjacent to the plastic plugs. We can hope a new cable
won't be a problem, but I'd try another one just to
double-check that.

Even SATA connectors are too fragile for my tastes, why with
the entire back of the drive to use do they try to make it
as small as they can get it to work in a lab instead of
making it a more robust connector?

>>I also had issues creating images using
>>Ghost and Acronis. I switched the BenQ to slave and Maxtor to master and
>>can
>>now boot from the BenQ, but imaging still fails.
>>
>>I've disconnected the BenQ drive and now have no problems creating image
>>files on the Maxtor. All goes well. The IDE cable connecting the drives is
>>a
>>new 80 wire cable.
>>
>>I'd try the Maxtor connected to the first PATA controller as a slave, but
>>that means moving drives around inside the case and very awkward cabling.
>>I'll probably end up doing this, or installing a SATA drive for my main
>>system to replace the Seagate, but I was wondering if there were any known
>>problems, etc. that I should be looking for.

> Something else that comes to mind (since I just came across
> the situation again today) is a bad IDE cable.

Tried swapping the Maxtor and Seagate around and had the same issues. Drives
were jumpered for Master/Slave. I don't trust Cable Select at all.

Turned out to be the IDE cable. It was a brand new cable that I recieved
with an ASUS mainboard. Once swapped out the system was fine.