Using IDE hdds in Precision 470/670

Question

I'm about to spring for a Precision 670, and I'm noticing that (like any better, newer computer) they only seem to come with SATA hdds.    I use a removable drive drawer that fits in a regular bay (like where you'd have a cd-rom) to swap out several IDE hdds for various types of data.  I am assuming that there probably is an iDE controller (having noticed someone in another post mentioned using the controller for his dvd to run a hdd) so I am wondering, will I be able to hook up my old IDE drive drawer to the controller and still utilize the couple'o'terrabytes of hdds I have on hand?  Is it the old master/slave type 2 drive controller I am accustomed to?   If I can do this, then, can I tweak the bios to allow me to boot from one of these disks as well?  I'm thinking of being able to swap out bootable disks to run various programs on a dedicated boot drive... you know... a kind of ultimate multiple boot deal, so I can swap in a clean no-frills OS for running applications that don't work so well with a lot of background zombies running around, like memory managers, messenger, schedulers, virus scanning and auto updating programs, etc.   Thanks for any input...   Mike

Chipstone · Answer

The 670 has the legacy IDE controller, SATA controller & U320 SCSI controller.
You have total control thru Bios as to your primary boot drive.

As far as interchanging the primary boot-drive with another drive, pre-configured from other systems, you will have compatibility issues: Your primary boot drive contains system markers, drives, chipset parameters, and registry entries coded to boot from the 670 setup.

If you install a different boot-drive, even with the same operating system but configured on another system I believe the boot will fail.

However you can install the same or different operating systems on multiple drives and have each drive configures with various permutations you may want to test programs with.

I have 2 SATA drives and 6 SCSI drives and have different operating systems installed with different applications:

Windows XP Pro
Windows XP Pro x64 (RC2)
Windows Server 2003
Windows Server 2003 x64 (RC2)

xrayzebra · Answer

Thanks for the comments. I did look at the manual after seeing a post about something else mentioned you can get the manual online, and it looked like this would work.

I did not intend to use OS configged on another system, but thanks for the warning, I learned that the hard way years ago.

I was going to do a couple mirrors of the oem system disc as configged from the factory before installing additional software, and then use them to install apps that I want to run in a clean environment.

You seem to be a "power-user," :) here's another question - do you know if I mirror the oem sata drive on an ide drive will it work as a system disk on the ide controller? Or, am I significantly better off using another sata drive and trying to find an sata drawer for swappage? I'd love to be able to continue to use the 3 or 4 ide hdds I already have.

I didn't notice a scsi controller was standard... does it have external hook-up or just internal? (I can "read the dog-gone manual" if you don't know off the top of your head.)

Thanks again, it's great to have community minded people willing to help out.

xrayzebra · Answer

Thanks for the info, interesting.  I've never used Ghost, I generally just use the software that typically comes with a hard drive for purposes of migrating the os to the new drive.  This generally works okay, except that I always have to reinstall Microsoft Office.  It is somehow protected against successful copying to a new system disc, as an anti-piracy measure of course.   Are any of you guys (assuming other people are also reading this) using a 670 as a personal computer?  This will be my second Precision for use as a PC at home.  The first was a 530 with dual 1.4 gig Xeons.  I am still using it after about 4 years.  I used to go thru pcs at a clip of a new one every year.  I hope the new one that is on its way today will be as satisfying as the first, which will probably enjoy its retirement as a dedicated media server.   If anybody is a big fan of the Precision as a home pc, drop me a line and I'll start a thread on that subject.

Chipstone · Answer

I have two 670 at as home pc. One is for business, and the other is configured for multimedia.

With all available hardware that can be installed, and the fast flexibility to upgrade components its a great system.

After having the 530 for two years, I was very pleased with the bullet-proof reliability, Then I purchased the 670.

I think the case size is great you can go in and have plenty of room to install several PCI devices, SATA, IDE, & SCSI controllers (Built-in) EMT64 Xeon processors, with room to upgrade.

Currently, the business computer contains 4GB of RAM with a upgrade to 16GB; eventually. Then two Adaptec 39320A-R PCI controller cards; each card is attached two external SCSI enclosures with 10K & 15K drives, then a Qlogic fibre channel controller card, attached to an 8 drive fibre array.

What other system gives you this flexibility.

Message Edited by Chipstone on 04-19-2005 05:23 PM

Message Edited by Chipstone on 04-19-2005 05:24 PM

xrayzebra · Answer

DOOD ! ! !

Sounds like a nice set-up. My wife thought I was nuts when I added the 5th 300 gig firewire hdd for mp3s. Now, I have somebody to point to and say, "See? I'm normal. This guy's crazy."

What do you do with all that storage anyway?

And 16 gigs of ram? What os are you running?

xrayzebra · Answer

My 670 arrived fully 10 days before the estimated arrival date when I ordered it.

Anyway, I Ghosted the C: drive to an IDE drive, and it seemed to copy fine. But, I can't seem to get the machine to boot from it. I tried turning the sata raid array off in bios as well as changing the boot sequence to no avail.

Whenever I try to boot from the ide drive I get an error mesage saying that there is a drive configuration problem.

Anybody know the secret to this one? Should I perhaps have NOT ghosted the MBR to the new ide drive, or is there some other little tweak in bios I am missing?

IDE drive is, of course, cable selected and installed on the primary ide cable in the master position. I have done this successfully on my old 530, which has no sata raid array.

Chipstone · Answer

I do extensive SQL/Access database financial & revenue demographics analysis for a cruise company, and on a monthly basis I create 4 files with over 2GB ea, and I also need to backup these files. The fibre channel array setup produces the fastest output queries from the database programs.

My current memory is 4GB, and the system’s potential is 16GB. Only Windows x64 or other 64 bit operating systems can address memory over 4GB; 32 bit computing restriction.

Whenever I try to boot from the IDE drive I get an error message saying that there is a drive configuration problem.

Did you also disable the two SATA drives entries?

If you are only using one IDE drive; the PATA interface, you need to disable the 2 SATA entries in Bios device, the SATA raid, and on the drive boot sequence make sure your drive is listed after the CD ROM.

Remember you have I believe 4 PATA entries 2 for IDE drive and two for CD-ROM, make sure you only have the correct PATA entries enabled and the ones without any device attached, disabled.

If there was a problem with the actual ghost, you would be able to access the drive, but would receive something like “unable for find operating system”

xrayzebra · Answer

Thanks, man... don't have time to do it now, but I will try your suggestions in the morning and post results. I did (a) both sata drives and (b) disabling the raid array, but not both at the same time. I thought that if I (b) disabled the raid array that would take care of (a.) So, I'll try both simultaneously.

I think the ghost was fine... I got no "os" message, it was definitely a config problem.

I appreciate the guidance in the right direction.

Storage, Drives & Media

Using IDE hdds in Precision 470/670

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