Tech Support Forum - View Single Post - Can I install 4 old ATA HD's on Asus P4P800 SE?

Targa · 10-28-2005, 05:53 PM

Hi all. I read the article by Clintfan here:
Asus P4P800-P4C800 Series: Promise IDE mode

But that seemed to address either SATA or RAID setups. Or...I'm just confused. But it also mentioned WindowsXP, and I'm building a dual-boot system.

On order:
Asus P4P800SE MB. Supports 4 HDD's.

This MB seems geared toward SATA drives and/or RAID configurations, but I simply want to go over the old limit of having 2 ATA (IDE or PATA if you will) HDD's on my system. Everything will be a fresh install on formatted HDD's and the new mobo. I will be installing Windows98SE first, which will go on the primary partition on C:, then, for dual-boot, I will install WindowsXP using the option to keep Win98 and make a dual-boot setup.

So...obviously this setup requires both 98SE and XP to recognize the 4 IDE drives. Is this even possible? If so, is there an "idiots guide" to doing it? :)

I'm not really an idiot, hehe. I have no problem following the instructions to d/l the promise IDE drivers and press the right keys during XP's install process. How would that apply (if at all) to Win98 tho? Is it possible to simply choose IDE mode in BIOS for the promise controller and plug my IDE HDD's right into the RAID ports? Thanks for any info/help you can offer!

Oh, and also.... that article by Clintfan seemed to be saying to do that if you wanted your OS to operate off the promise controller, and I don't want to do that. The third and fourth drives will be primarily for storage of disk images (backups) and whatnot.

10-28-2005, 05:53 PM	#1 (permalink)
Targa Registered User Join Date: Oct 2005 Posts: 4 OS: Win98SE/WinXP	Can I install 4 old ATA HD's on Asus P4P800 SE? Hi all. I read the article by Clintfan here: Asus P4P800-P4C800 Series: Promise IDE mode But that seemed to address either SATA or RAID setups. Or...I'm just confused. But it also mentioned WindowsXP, and I'm building a dual-boot system. On order: Asus P4P800SE MB. Supports 4 HDD's. This MB seems geared toward SATA drives and/or RAID configurations, but I simply want to go over the old limit of having 2 ATA (IDE or PATA if you will) HDD's on my system. Everything will be a fresh install on formatted HDD's and the new mobo. I will be installing Windows98SE first, which will go on the primary partition on C:, then, for dual-boot, I will install WindowsXP using the option to keep Win98 and make a dual-boot setup. So...obviously this setup requires both 98SE and XP to recognize the 4 IDE drives. Is this even possible? If so, is there an "idiots guide" to doing it? :) I'm not really an idiot, hehe. I have no problem following the instructions to d/l the promise IDE drivers and press the right keys during XP's install process. How would that apply (if at all) to Win98 tho? Is it possible to simply choose IDE mode in BIOS for the promise controller and plug my IDE HDD's right into the RAID ports? Thanks for any info/help you can offer! Oh, and also.... that article by Clintfan seemed to be saying to do that if you wanted your OS to operate off the promise controller, and I don't want to do that. The third and fourth drives will be primarily for storage of disk images (backups) and whatnot.