HDD Confusion

[codename_romeo]

I am having IDE hard dsk in my pc ( 80 GB + 40 GB). I want to know that if i buy a SATA HDD , then can i connect bot IDE n SATA simultaneously or not?
ANd if i connect both at the same time then which will be Master and which will be Slave?

[drvarunmehta]

Yes you can connect all the HDD's simultaneously.

Originally Posted by codename_romeo

ANd if i connect both at the same time then which will be Master and which will be Slave?

Aren't there 3 HDD's? 2 PATA and one SATA.
For the PATA HDD's the master and slave depens on how you connect the IDE cable. The SATA HDD is always master independant of your PATA HDD's.

[suman2005]

Most BIOS see the Primary Master PATA HDD as the first HDD - that is before the SATA HDDs. But you can select which HDD to boot from from the BIOS. I have a PATA and 2xSATA HDDs and I have my OS on one of the SATA HDDs and I select this as the HDD to boot from in BIOS.

PATA HDDs are Masters and Slaves but all SATA HDDs are MASTERS.

[nishant_nms]

will work. Both will be master because the PATA channel will have a single drive and SATA has nothing like Master and slave