Advice on IDE ATA133 controller cards...

[Ian Roberts]

Hi

My cousin needs a larger drive and is already using 4 IDE's (2 HDD's + 2
DVDRW) so needs another controller.

Ive looked around for PCI controller cards and would appreciate hearing from
anyone with experience of using these - my priority being reliability...

Ive seen this pretty cheap:

Q-TEC 340R IDE ATA-133 RAID
http://www.qtec.info/products/product.htm?artnr=13237

also on ebay second hand even cheaper..

Promise Ultra133 TX2.

Maybe they're as good as each other?

Thanks for any info

Ian

 

[Andrew Rossmann]

Hi

My cousin needs a larger drive and is already using 4 IDE's (2 HDD's + 2
DVDRW) so needs another controller.

Ive looked around for PCI controller cards and would appreciate hearing from
anyone with experience of using these - my priority being reliability...

Ive seen this pretty cheap:

Q-TEC 340R IDE ATA-133 RAID
http://www.qtec.info/products/product.htm?artnr=13237

also on ebay second hand even cheaper..

Promise Ultra133 TX2.

Maybe they're as good as each other?

I would take the Promise over anything else. They are well known
brand, and work well and have good support.
www.promise.com

 

[Tod]

Hi

My cousin needs a larger drive and is already using 4 IDE's (2 HDD's + 2
DVDRW) so needs another controller.

Ive looked around for PCI controller cards and would appreciate hearing from
anyone with experience of using these - my priority being reliability...

Ive seen this pretty cheap:

Q-TEC 340R IDE ATA-133 RAID
http://www.qtec.info/products/product.htm?artnr=13237

also on ebay second hand even cheaper..

Promise Ultra133 TX2.

Maybe they're as good as each other?

Thanks for any info

Ian

In the past I've used the Promise Ultra 100 TX2, worked fine.
I'm currently using the Syba ATA/133 controller card ($16)
Same chip at the Q-tec
http://www.softwareandstuff.com/CRD10155.html

 

[Eric Gisin]

That is a good card, it uses the SiI chip.

The only problem with ebay is some people sell old stock, which requires BIOS
update fro 137+ GB.

 

[Timothy Daniels]

My cousin needs a larger drive and is already using 4 IDE's
(2 HDD's + 2 DVDRW) so needs another controller.

Ive looked around for PCI controller cards and would appreciate
hearing from anyone with experience of using these - my priority
being reliability...

Ive seen this pretty cheap:

Q-TEC 340R IDE ATA-133 RAID
http://www.qtec.info/products/product.htm?artnr=13237

also on ebay second hand even cheaper..

Promise Ultra133 TX2.

Maybe they're as good as each other?

I've been using an ATA133 PCI card made by SIIG for about
1 1/2 years, now, with no problems. I've always been able
to get their Tech Support on the phone (but you have to call
their Silicon Valley no. on your own nickel). I also have a
Creativ I/O controller card (same as Syba) which I've not used
but which seems to have the same sized FIFO buffer as SIIG
(256bytes) with fewer chips on the card (maybe more reliable(?)).
I chose the SIIG card over the Promise because the Promise's
FIFO buffers were only 128 bytes. Both went for around $40.
The Creative I/O/Syba card cost about $15 at Fry's a few weeks
ago.

*TimDaniels*

 

[Rod Speed]

My cousin needs a larger drive and is already using 4 IDE's (2 HDD's + 2
DVDRW) so needs another controller.

The best approach in that situation is usually to replace
one of the existing hard drives with a much larger one.

 

[Ian Roberts]

That is a good card, it uses the SiI chip.

The only problem with ebay is some people sell old stock, which requires
BIOS
update fro 137+ GB.

Ahhh yes thanks a lot for reminding me that an older card will need a BIOS
update.

Cheers

Ian

 

[Ian Roberts]

Hi Guys

Thanks to all of you for replying.

Seems like most peeps speak highly of the SiL chipset so the Q-Tec is the
one
I'll go for. Also has a RAID option should it ever be necessary.

The best approach in that situation is usually to replace
one of the existing hard drives with a much larger one.

Yep I'll go along with that but in this case...
HDD1=120GB (WD1200JB)
HDD2=250GB (WD2500JB)

and seeing as I'm the one doing all the work, I dont fancy taking the time
to transfer any of that to an even bigger disc!

Another WD2500JB (250Gb) as HDD 3 will be perfect and should provide enough
room to keep my cousin quite for a little while!

Cheers.

Ian

 

[CUEmail]

You said:

I dont fancy taking the time to transfer any of that to an even

bigger disc!

You don't need to transfer (as in, select and transfer specific files)
to the new disk, just copy the entire disk image "as is" to the new
disk. If there are any files you don't want, it will be faster to
delete those off the new drive after imaging.

Also, this just doesn't sound right. Has your cousin ever tried the
advanced options under Disk Cleanup in Windows, or the equivalent in
Linux (whichever OS s/he is using) ? That can get rid of an awful
lot of unnecessary crap, and possible help you avoid having to add a
drive for another 6 months. Also, after running Disk Cleanup, run a
Defrag utility. In Windows 98/2000/NT/XP this can almost double your
software speed.*

* and this can all be done overnight while you are asleep...you don't
need to waste your time sitting there and watching the computer work