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I have the following motherboard
Tyan Thunder K8WE S2895A2NRF Motherboard - extended ATX - nForce Pro 2200/2050 - Socket 940 - UDMA133, Serial ATA-300 (RAID) - 2 x Gigabit Ethernet - FireWire - 6-1 channel audio
This is part of a computer that was assembled in the winter of 2006/2007. The user manual says the following with regard to SATA
- Integrated SATAII Generation 1 Controllers (from NForce Professional 2200)
- Two integrated dual port SATA II controllers
- Four SATA connectors support up to four drives
- 3 Gb/s per direction per channel
- NvRAID v2.0 support
- Supports RAID 0, 1, 0+1 and JBOD.
I just purchased a SATA DVD burner. Here is the page for the product
http://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B002QGDWLK/
The problem I am facing is that I already have 4 SATA drives installed. I don't want to remove any of them. However, I want the DVD burner above installed as well.
The person I am consulting with here (Bombay, India) tells me that my four available SATA ports are filled, and that my only option is to install a SATA card into the one free PCI slot on the motherboard. However, he says that with this setup I will not be able to boot from the DVD drive.
Are these statements correct, and what are my other options if any? Even it the statements in the last para are true, I suppose I could use one of the motherboard connectors/ports there are currently being used with the hard drives with the DVD drive, and use the "add-on" connector with one of the hard drives. Not all the 4 hard drives need to be bootable.
BTW, despite having read through http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serial_ATA#Cables.2C_connectors.2C_and_ports I am fuzzy on the differences between connectors, cables and ports.
Thanks for the suggestions. I don't know about PATA, but my impression is that converting between interfaces can cause problems. Which of 1 an d2 are less problematic, if you know? I don't want to go external, since yes, that would add clutter and reduce portability. Note I don't have enough reputation to vote up, otherwise would do so. Also, the usual advice is to wait 24 to 48 hrs before accepting an answer. – Faheem Mitha – 2011-03-04T11:46:33.327