things about IDE host and IDE controller

[ide]

Does the ide controller exist in the hard disk itself and only the IDE host exists in the PC mother board?

If yes than how can I find out that how many IDE hosts my mother board had and how many hard disk I can connect to each ?

Thanks

[DMR]

Does the ide controller exist in the hard disk itself and only the IDE host exists in the PC mother board?

The host controller circuitry resides on the motherboard, or in the case of an IDE/ATA accellerator/expansion card, on the card. The drive controller circuitry is (obviously) on the drive.

how can I find out that how many IDE hosts my mother board had

Look on the motherboard or consult your motherboard's documentation. Traditionally there are two IDE channels (Primary and Secondary) on a motherboard.

and how many hard disk I can connect to each ?

You can connect a maximum of two devices to any given IDE channel.

[ide]

Look on the motherboard or consult your motherboard's documentation. Traditionally there are two IDE channels (Primary and Secondary) on a motherboard.

I see many 40 pin cables coming out of the motherboard to which I can connect hard disks, does each of them represent a IDE channel ?

[DMR]

It really depends on the exact model of your motherboard. Do you have any info/specifications for the motherboard?

[ide]

Here is the main board info

Board: Hewlett-Packard 085Ch
Serial Number: SGH442011L
Bus Clock: 800 megahertz
BIOS: Hewlett-Packard 786B2 v1.11 07/10/2003

and this is the controllers info

Standard floppy disk controller
Intel(R) 82801EB Ultra ATA Storage Controllers - 24D1
Intel(R) 82801EB Ultra ATA Storage Controllers - 24DB
Primary IDE Channel [Controller] (2x)
Secondary IDE Channel [Controller] (2x)

Thanks

[DMR]

I couldn't find specs for that particular motherboard, but from what you posted, you appear to have (2) 82801EB controllers on the motherboard. Each 82801EB controller has a Primary and a Secondary channel, so you should see 4 IDE/ATA connectors on the motherboard. Does that sound about right?

Since each channel of each controller can handle two drives, it looks like you should be able to connect 8 drives to that system.

[ide]

thanks a lot for your help, the one from which I posted the specs is my office pc so I don't want to open its case :confused:

however in my home pc I see only

Primary IDE Channel [Controller] (2x)
Secondary IDE Channel [Controller] (2x)

and it has two ide cables, so you are right

[DMR]

and it has two ide cables...

Right- one cable for the controller's Primary channel, one cable for the Secondary channel. That means that you can connect two drives to each cable for a total of 4 devices.

[coolamd]

which side of an ide cable should be nearest to the power supply on the hard if anyone could help that would be nice .

[DMR]

...nearest to the power supply on the hard...

There is no power supply on the hard drive itself, but if you mean the power connector, then the side of the cable which has the colored stripe along it would conventionally be nearest that connector. The stripe marks the cable's #1 wire/pin, and that should correspond to Pin #1 of the drive's IDE connector.

You can (and should) check the drive manufacturer's website for cabling/connection info for the specific model of drive, because the orientation of the IDE cable may not be as I described for every make/model of drive.

[coolamd]

thanks ah i am doing course n they ask that n i am very stump on everything well not everything n sort of work it out today sort of i would like some help on most stuff but if not thats cool .i need more info on computers n stuff they give me book to learn from wich seems to me very old like p3 how is that going to help .sorry for that ah .coolamd

[overwhelmed]

DMR I NEED YOUR HELP AND YOU DONT ACCEPT PM'S SO I FIGURED I WOULD TRY AND GET YOU THIS WAY ummm i just wanted to see if you would be able to lend me a hand with something..... there is a person on here that has a new poly win32 problem and i dont know how to assist them with this and neither do the 2 other "helpers" that are corresponding with the "victim" so to speak here is a link to the thread and i hope you can help us out......
http://www.daniweb.com/forums/thread106531.html