ULTIMATE HARD DISK SETTINGS - brain racking question

[sincereheart]

ULTIMATE HARD DISK SETTINGS - brain racking question

Respected Tech gurus and dear forum members

Here goes the situation:

I have one INTEL 865 GBF motherboard

As far as I have understood (and correct me if i am wrong) i can attach six devices (be it Hard disk or optical drive).

Two sata hard disks can be attached to two sata interfaces and
Two pata hard disks cab be attached to EACH ide interfaces

Thus all in all 6 hard disks (or say 5 hard disks and one CD rom can be attached) on my intel 865 GBF motherboard.

Now furthermore i also understand that for SATA hard disks there is no problem of master / slave.

But for each pata HDD attached to either IDE channel, we can have

primary master
primary slave
secondary master
secondary slave

NOW MY QUESTION IS THAT :

Say I am having two SATA hard disks

SATA Hard Disk One with windows advanced server 2000 OS (80GB)
SATA Hard Disk Two with windows XP professional (160GB)

ALso I am having three PATA hard disks

PATA Hard Disk One with windows advanced server 2000 OS (80GB)
PATA Hard Disk Two with windows XP professional (80GB)
PATA Hard Disk Three with windows XP professional (160GB)

In addition last but not the least one CD-ROM drive

BIG QUESTION:

WHAT SHOULD BE MY SETTINGS (which pata hard disk should be connected to which ide channel and whether as master or slave) SO THAT I AM ABLE TO BOOT FROM ANY HARD DISK (i get a choice when i power on my computer to select hard disk i want to be in) AND AFTER BOOTING FROM A PARTICULAR HARD DISK BE ABLE TO ACCESS DATA OF ALL REMAINING HARD DISKS SIMULTANEOUSLY...??????????????????????????????

Please reply in detail specifying which hard disk (for pata) should be master / slave on what channel and reasons if possible...????

Regards

Sunando

[Tech&ME]

To enable boot to any OS from any harddisk, you will need to connect the harddisk (without OS in it) and then install the OS on the desired harddisk.

Once you do that, the next time you boot your computer , U will see a boot menu where you can selet the harddisk you want boot from.

(this is not an OS feature, hence, everytime you boot, you will be required to go to the BIOS/CMOS and change the booting preference there to the desired hdd you need to boot from)

[sincereheart]

"To enable boot to any OS from any harddisk, you will need to connect the harddisk (without OS in it)"

SHOULD i connect the Hard Disk as stand alone without other hard disks connected...or i can connect two or more hard disks while installing OS on my desired one...?????

"Once you do that, the next time you boot your computer , U will see a boot menu where you can selet the harddisk you want boot from.
(this is not an OS feature, hence, everytime you boot, you will be required to go to the BIOS/CMOS and change the booting preference there to the desired hdd you need to boot from)"

True agreed but do u think that as far as PATA hard disks and CD drive is concerned, are they to be connected to IDE channel in any particular order to satisfy the master / slave requirements...or can any pata hard disk and cd drive be put on any channel ...?????????

Also anyone willing to add anything to the whole discussion.

[Tech&ME]

Originally Posted by sincereheart

SHOULD i connect the Hard Disk as stand alone without other hard disks connected...or i can connect two or more hard disks while installing OS on my desired one...?????

No! u cannot connect all the harddisk at once, u will have to connect one harddisk at a time (in case of PATA) and then install the OS one after the other. However in case of SATA you can connect all the hdd together and install the OS to the desired hdd one after the other.

Originally Posted by sincereheart

True agreed but do u think that as far as PATA hard disks and CD drive is concerned, are they to be connected to IDE channel in any particular order to satisfy the master / slave requirements...or can any pata hard disk and cd drive be put on any channel ...?????????

Yes! I think the CD -Rom drive must be connected as Primary Master only and all other PATA hdd accourdingly.

However to install the OS in each desired hdd, first you will have to configure the BIOS/CMOS to allow booting from a CD-Rom drive.

also remember to make partitions in the hdd before you install OS, don't re-size and partition later.

[puja399]

Originally Posted by Tech&ME

To enable boot to any OS from any harddisk, you will need to connect the harddisk (without OS in it) and then install the OS on the desired harddisk.

I didn't know that!!!! Can't I use the HDD without connecting it first?

[sincereheart]

Yes! I think the CD -Rom drive must be connected as Primary Master only and all other PATA hdd accourdingly.

Is there any rule / standard which we have to adhere to while connecting PATA HDD and CD ROM to motherboard...?????

What If i do not connect CD-Rom as Primary Master but say as Secondary Slave...????????

[theraven]

wont make a difference
but its just usual practice

as for the connections
it really doesnt matter
just install all the os where u want them

the first one u install .. that will be the primery partion disk
thats where ur boot loader will be
that hdd will be required for u to boot
all other OS's will be MULTIBOOT
and will be entered in the boot.ini on the primary disk !


notice this is not the primary IDE interface im talkin abt

the primary partition is where the system looks for boot files

so the boot file wont be installed for every os that u install

this is the HDD you'll have to boot from
and u'll get an OS selection menu
just select which os u wanna boot from !