8K7A external hard drive question(s)

[Greta von Smack]

Hello all you smart people out there!

I would appreciate some advice on the matter of making use of external hard drives under an 8K7A mobo.

At the moment, I believe all of my IRQs are accounted for which seems to leave me without much option to add an IDE based solution.

There is USB but it is 1.1 for this motherboard and I don't know if there is some way of adapting 1.1 to 2.0 which is about all I see for external setups. (And I would prefer only 2.0 hardware for future portability.)

Then there is SCSI. Now, I do have a Fireport SCSI card in my machine to support an elderly Zip drive and a Plextor CDR drive and it works flawlessly--and it has, oh, about 900 open channels . However, as we all know, SCSI is like "for the rich", man.

The questions are kinda obvious, and I'm more or less clueless about the IRQ issue and whether there are tricks to circumvent the lack of them--like a third-party EIDE gizmo that piggybacks on the built-in one, using the same IRQ, etc.

For me, I am less concerned about speed and moreso about reliability and space/capacity. I am also somewhat concerned about price, though I can splurge a bit if the solution is tasty.

So what would YOU do? Or perhaps, what have you DONE?

I'm happy to perform system checks and gather necessary data (though I may need some guidance, 'cause I'm a pinhead) and whatever's needed to acquire info to reach an optimal approach to this issue.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Greta

[SteveI]

I'd say the easiest solution is to get a cheap firewire card, and use a firewire based external drive. Technically, USB2.0 has a max for 480mbits/sec, versus 400mbits/sec. However, in real life firewire is more effective and consistent in connection and daily use.

A firewire card is typically $20 or less, and an external drive case for firewire a a few dollars more than one that is USB only.

[Greta von Smack]

Hi SteveI,

Thanks for the reply.

Firewire, eh? Now that's something I hadn't thought about. Because, as I said, I'm a pinhead.

I feel like a Luddite as I know nothing about Firewire save the absolute basics. I'll go and ejookate m'self a bit.

Oh, one thing though. As this would require another card how does that work with the issue of my not having any free IRQ's (that I know of)? Perhaps it doesn't require an IRQ?

Greta

[Greta von Smack]

Some light reading later and I have another question.

Okee, I've see some enclosures where the specs indicate:

USB 2.0 (USB 1.1 compatible) / Firewire 1394

So, I'm wondering, since I already have an unused USB1.1 port, whether I may as well skip the Firewire card and just use what I have...especially if there will be IRQ issues.

I imagine the transfer rate is slower with 1.1, but to what degree?

Off to crack open some more web pages.

Greta

[wild_andy_c]

like 40 times slower - like very very slow!

A USB 2.0 card or firewire card only costs 15 USD...........

[jnansley]

Isn't there Firewire 800 as well?

[wild_andy_c]

Yep - but supporting devices are either few or far between or costly.

[Áedán]

Or Apple...

[Greta von Smack]

Originally Posted by wild_andy_c

like 40 times slower - like very very slow!

Hehe, yeah, I gathered that bit of info on further reading.

However, I am still wondering: does a/the Firewire card require a separate IRQ or can it share (or even not need one at all)? Haven't seen one word on that part in my reading.

Greta

[wild_andy_c]

What operating system are you using ?