USB Drives

Fan924 · Mar 21, 2008

You are limited to 4 IDE drives. Are there any limitations in the
number of USB drives?

MEB · Mar 21, 2008

"Fan924" <a924fan@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:ee054c29-5876-48e8-a306-abd2f990a888@e6g2000prf.googlegroups.com...
| You are limited to 4 IDE drives. Are there any limitations in the
| number of USB drives?

USB is limited by the number of physically connected devices [root and
subs], when the shared frequency and voltage are exceeded. These are shared
by the devices directly connected to the *main* connectors.
The number of connectors per motherboard or device extends this, such as
having 4 instead of two but only if the motherboard actually supplies extra
rather than splitting between the 4 connectors. Using powered hubs extends
that capability by not using the motherboard supplied, but by creating its
own and passing that back to the computer.

http://noccc.org/bytes/articles/v01/326.html - USB Explained: Is the
Universal Serial Bus for You?

--
MEB
http://peoplescounsel.orgfree.com
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_________

MEB · Mar 21, 2008

Sorry, posted that before delving into the data base very far.

Here's a exploration into USB and configurations [though via Linux].

http://www.alleft.com/projects/lj_hydra.shtml - Project: Hydra the USB
Multiheaded Monster

--
MEB
http://peoplescounsel.orgfree.com
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_________

Fan924 · Mar 21, 2008

I do not have to give up an IDE drive to add a USB drive? Correct?

Gary S. Terhune · Mar 21, 2008

Correct. I have tons of both.

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS-MVP Shell/User
www.grystmill.com

"Fan924" <a924fan@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:f4a718e1-b82c-4468-bd8d-d50b1b9c3668@i12g2000prf.googlegroups.com...
>I do not have to give up an IDE drive to add a USB drive? Correct?

Mike Y · Mar 21, 2008

"Fan924" <a924fan@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:ee054c29-5876-48e8-a306-abd2f990a888@e6g2000prf.googlegroups.com...
> You are limited to 4 IDE drives. Are there any limitations in the
> number of USB drives?

Who said? I've seen BIOS's that support 8. And I've seen setups with
over 16 drives, with multiple cards...

Brian A. · Mar 21, 2008

"Mike Y" <joe@user.com> wrote in message news:1NZEj.53$sg1.36@newsfe06.lga...
>
> "Fan924" <a924fan@yahoo.com> wrote in message
> news:ee054c29-5876-48e8-a306-abd2f990a888@e6g2000prf.googlegroups.com...
>> You are limited to 4 IDE drives. Are there any limitations in the
>> number of USB drives?
>
> Who said? I've seen BIOS's that support 8. And I've seen setups with
> over 16 drives, with multiple cards...
>
>
>
>

Just curious, you've seen mobos with more than 2 IDE controller connections or are
you talking about Daisy Chaining? Of course as well, more than 4 can be used with
Add-on cards which have their own BIOS, but I haven't seen a mobo that had more than
2 IDE controllers and it would be risky IMHO to use a Ribbon Data cable with more
than two IDE drive connectors.

--

Brian A. Sesko { MS MVP_Windows Desktop User Experience }
Conflicts start where information lacks.
http://basconotw.mvps.org/

Suggested posting do's/don'ts: http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm
How to ask a question: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555375

Lil' Dave · Mar 22, 2008

"Fan924" <a924fan@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:ee054c29-5876-48e8-a306-abd2f990a888@e6g2000prf.googlegroups.com...
> You are limited to 4 IDE drives. Are there any limitations in the
> number of USB drives?

You are limited to 2 ide ports per onboard ide interface chip. Each port
can handle two hard drives.

A few mobo makers added an aftermarket ide interface chip for more in some
cases.

An ide inteface card may be added having 2 ide ports as well.

Did not use the word "controller" as in the case of ide, its located on the
ide drive itself.

One realistic limitation of many online USB hard drives is usability. You
are limited to the number of drive letters for designating a partitions.
Another is if a self-powered version. In the real world, most people tax
out the PC at 3 or 4 USB drives online at the same time. Have heard
declarations of up to 12 in use simultaneously online.

--
Dave

... et al. · Mar 25, 2008

Brian A. wrote:

> "Mike Y" <joe@user.com> wrote:
>
>>
>> "Fan924" <a924fan@yahoo.com> wrote:
>>
>>> You are limited to 4 IDE drives. Are there any limitations in the
>>> number of USB drives?
>>
>> Who said? I've seen BIOS's that support 8. And I've seen setups with
>> over 16 drives, with multiple cards...
>>
>
> Just curious, you've seen mobos with more than 2 IDE controller
> connections or are you talking about Daisy Chaining? Of course as well,
> more than 4 can be used with Add-on cards which have their own BIOS, but
> I haven't seen a mobo that had more than 2 IDE controllers and it would
> be risky IMHO to use a Ribbon Data cable with more than two IDE drive
> connectors.
>

What /Lil' Dave/ posted.

Example-pictures (A7V333 RAID):
<http://www.hardocp.com/images/articles/1028579813qby1Orpcol_1_2_l.jpg>
connectors closeup:
<http://www.hardocp.com/images/articles/1028579813qby1Orpcol_2_13_l.jpg>

Can be used for HDD's ordinarily without RAIDing them.

--
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Please followup in the newsgroup.
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Fan924 · Mar 25, 2008

Thanks for the info.

Mike Y · Mar 25, 2008

"Brian A." <gonefish'n@afarawaylake> wrote in message
news:eny6UC9iIHA.4684@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
> "Mike Y" <joe@user.com> wrote in message
news:1NZEj.53$sg1.36@newsfe06.lga...
> >
> > "Fan924" <a924fan@yahoo.com> wrote in message
> > news:ee054c29-5876-48e8-a306-abd2f990a888@e6g2000prf.googlegroups.com...
> >> You are limited to 4 IDE drives. Are there any limitations in the
> >> number of USB drives?
> >
> > Who said? I've seen BIOS's that support 8. And I've seen setups with
> > over 16 drives, with multiple cards...
> >
> >
> >
> >
>
> Just curious, you've seen mobos with more than 2 IDE controller
connections or are
> you talking about Daisy Chaining? Of course as well, more than 4 can be
used with
> Add-on cards which have their own BIOS, but I haven't seen a mobo that had
more than
> 2 IDE controllers and it would be risky IMHO to use a Ribbon Data cable
with more
> than two IDE drive connectors.
>
>

I'm not sure if I've seen it in 'consumer' equipment, but I've seen it in
industrial
equipment. All the BIOS has to do is dynamically ID the drive, and that's
not
hard to do. And even then it's really only necessary to init the drive.
Stuff like
ATADRV used to handle drives dynamically, using the ID command only
for the ATAINIT (the equivalent of FDISK) and after that it read the drive
to figure it out. ATADRV just used to assume that any drive was a 20meg
unit until it read from the drive and then changed to what it really was.

You can't put more than two drives on one cable. At least in the PC-AT type
IDE world. That's because there's a 'master/slave' relationship, not a
numbered sequence relationship.

Brian A. · Mar 25, 2008

"Mike Y" <joe@user.com> wrote in message news:xfeGj.592$UJ6.166@newsfe06.lga...
>
> "Brian A." <gonefish'n@afarawaylake> wrote in message
> news:eny6UC9iIHA.4684@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
>> "Mike Y" <joe@user.com> wrote in message
> news:1NZEj.53$sg1.36@newsfe06.lga...
>> >
>> > "Fan924" <a924fan@yahoo.com> wrote in message
>> > news:ee054c29-5876-48e8-a306-abd2f990a888@e6g2000prf.googlegroups.com...
>> >> You are limited to 4 IDE drives. Are there any limitations in the
>> >> number of USB drives?
>> >
>> > Who said? I've seen BIOS's that support 8. And I've seen setups with
>> > over 16 drives, with multiple cards...
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>>
>> Just curious, you've seen mobos with more than 2 IDE controller
> connections or are
>> you talking about Daisy Chaining? Of course as well, more than 4 can be
> used with
>> Add-on cards which have their own BIOS, but I haven't seen a mobo that had
> more than
>> 2 IDE controllers and it would be risky IMHO to use a Ribbon Data cable
> with more
>> than two IDE drive connectors.
>>
>>
>
> I'm not sure if I've seen it in 'consumer' equipment, but I've seen it in
> industrial
> equipment. All the BIOS has to do is dynamically ID the drive, and that's
> not
> hard to do. And even then it's really only necessary to init the drive.
> Stuff like
> ATADRV used to handle drives dynamically, using the ID command only
> for the ATAINIT (the equivalent of FDISK) and after that it read the drive
> to figure it out. ATADRV just used to assume that any drive was a 20meg
> unit until it read from the drive and then changed to what it really was.
>

Thanks for that info. After seeing et al's response I can never say I have
never seen one again.

> You can't put more than two drives on one cable. At least in the PC-AT type
> IDE world. That's because there's a 'master/slave' relationship, not a
> numbered sequence relationship.

I realize that, had a senior moment.

--
----
----
Brian A. Sesko { MS MVP_Windows Desktop User Experience }
Conflicts start where information lacks.
http://basconotw.mvps.org/

Suggested posting do's/don'ts: http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm
How to ask a question: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555375
----
----

Brian A. · Mar 25, 2008

"... et al." <look@sig.bcause.this.is.invalid> wrote in message
news:etm%23iorjIHA.1184@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
> Brian A. wrote:
>
>> "Mike Y" <joe@user.com> wrote:
>>
>>>
>>> "Fan924" <a924fan@yahoo.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>> You are limited to 4 IDE drives. Are there any limitations in the
>>>> number of USB drives?
>>>
>>> Who said? I've seen BIOS's that support 8. And I've seen setups with
>>> over 16 drives, with multiple cards...
>>>
>>
>> Just curious, you've seen mobos with more than 2 IDE controller connections
>> or are you talking about Daisy Chaining? Of course as well, more than 4 can
>> be used with Add-on cards which have their own BIOS, but I haven't seen a
>> mobo that had more than 2 IDE controllers and it would be risky IMHO to use a
>> Ribbon Data cable with more than two IDE drive connectors.
>>
>
> What /Lil' Dave/ posted.
>
> Example-pictures (A7V333 RAID):
> <http://www.hardocp.com/images/articles/1028579813qby1Orpcol_1_2_l.jpg>
> connectors closeup:
> <http://www.hardocp.com/images/articles/1028579813qby1Orpcol_2_13_l.jpg>
>
> Can be used for HDD's ordinarily without RAIDing them.

Don't see a response by Lil Dave that has those links, thanks for sharing.

--
----
----
Brian A. Sesko { MS MVP_Windows Desktop User Experience }
Conflicts start where information lacks.
http://basconotw.mvps.org/

Suggested posting do's/don'ts: http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm
How to ask a question: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555375
----
----

USB Drives

Fan924

MEB

MEB

Fan924

Gary S. Terhune

Mike Y

Brian A.

Lil' Dave

... et al.

Fan924

Mike Y

Brian A.

Brian A.

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