promise controller card?

[Robertj]

I am thinking about using a Promise controller card to run my 40 gig hard drive and to separate my cdrw and dvdrom to separate
channels. My question is with a working OS and Win ME what will
happen when the pc boots up? The pc is ata 33 and the hard drive is a maxtor ide ata 133. Oh yes, the hard drive is set jumpered to use 32 gig only because of the limitation of the AWARD bios. Should the jumpers on hard drive be left at that setting or be changed to something else? Also will using this controller do I stand a chance of losing data on the hard drive, or does the controller card just make the data speed run from 33 to mb/sec to 100 mb/sec? Will I also see faster transfer speeds running one of the optical drives on the promise card and leaving the dvd/rom on mainboard controller?

Please advise,

Thanks,

God Bless,

Robert

[DrZaius]

Hi Robert,

First, you should only connected hard disks to the controller card, leave optical drivers on the motherboard IDE. Second, the controller card uses its own BIOS, so you don't have to worry about size limitations. Just jumper the drive as your normally would (master or cable select), and it will run at its optimal speed.

[morriswindgate]

ANd do not forget to change the boot order in the BIOS from the C: Drive to SCSI to get it to boot from the card. By the way you should see some increase in performance.

[HAL9000]

It isn't always necessary to switch the boot order to SCSI first, but it is a good idea to know that just in case it doesn't work with your system.

[crjdriver]

If you already have the os installed, just add the card and restart the computer. After you have loaded drivers and restarted, then shutdown and connect your hd to the card. Most of the time it will boot fine just like that without having to change boot order in the bios. I am using a promise ultra 133 card on one of my own machines; works great with no problems at all.
I would just use the card for hds even though the manual says you can use ATAPI devices. Attach the ATAPI devices to the ide ports on the mb.

[crjdriver]

Almost forgot make sure you use an ATA66/100/133 cable to take full advantage of the card.

[Robertj]

Thanks all for your advice on the Promise controller question.

Currently I am using the size limitation jumper setting on the hard drive. Should I leave the jumper at this setting or change to "master". I had to use this setting for the mboard bios to recognize at least 32 Gig or non at all.

please advise,

thanks,

God Bless,

Robert

[DrZaius]

You can change it to master.

[Tuf]

The jumper for the drive size limitation won't matter anymore because the card will recognize all of the drive's capacity. Most cards are meant for hard drives only but I have installed several in the last year that are capable of having opticals on them also.

If it were me I would use an eighty wire IDE cable and set the drive to cable select. Atleast one such cable should accompany the card unless you bought an oem card.