Can I add an IDE Hard drive to my system?

[VarLordahl]

Hey guys. I recently built a computer, namely with an ASUS A8N-E motherboard and a 250 GB SATA 300 WD Caviar harddrive not running RAID.

I am at my parent's house for Easter and noticed that my dad has a spare WD Caviar 120GB "Enhanced IDE Hard Drive" just saying around.

Will this be basically plug and play compatible with my mother board or is it too old? I know it won't be as a fast as my main Hard Drive, but I kind of want it in there for backup purposes so I can sell my external drive on ebay.

Thanks guys!

 

[macdude425]

It should work fine if your motherboard has an open IDE channel (I don't see why it wouldn't...)

 

[Anphrax]

Im not sure if you have to set it as slave, but I would anyway. Move the jumpers around and make sure that your SATA drive is master. Should work.

 

[VarLordahl]

What does master/slave mean.

And how do I go about setting something like that?

 

[b1gapl]

Master is the primary drive where your wiindows is installed, and slave is secondary. The jumper pins is how you would set a hard drive to either master or slave. Usually on the hard drive it will tell you at which position to put the jumpers at.

 

[VarLordahl]

Master is the primary drive where your wiindows is installed, and slave is secondary. The jumper pins is how you would set a hard drive to either master or slave. Usually on the hard drive it will tell you at which position to put the jumpers at.

GOtcha.

So then I would leave my current HD plugged into into Sata 1, and then just plug the IDE one in as a slave? Is that correct?

Also, how do I know if my Mobo supports IDE harddrives?

Again, I have an Asus A8N-E. I checked the specs on Newegg, and it didn't say anything about IDE hard drives one way or another (there was not even a "section" for it on the "specifications" page). ???


Sorry for the basic questions guys. I honestly am reseraching this. But sometimes the truly basic stuff is the hardest to learn because most people don't do DIYs, FAQs, or walk-throughs for the super-basics.

Thanks!