Motherboard and HDD Controller Question

1) I was wanting to add a new Pentium III motherboard along with a new processor and I have a few questions. When I take everything out and reinstall it with the new m.board/proc., will the BIOS recognize everything that's already installed, or will I have to go through a whole new set of setup procedures? What all is involved in setting up the new m.board/proc. combination? And,
2) I was also wanting to add another hard drive to my computer and keep the current one. The problem is that I already have two devices in use on each IDE controller. Can I add a third to the mix on one of the controllers and use a custom cable, or do I have to buy a PCI expansion IDE controller card and attach it to that?

1. RE: Motherboard and HDD Controller Question
lbyard Oct-16-00 01:28 PM
In response to message 0

1. A motherboard, expansion boards, drivers, and operating system are extremely complex and each combination will usually behave differently when replacing a motherboard. In general Windows will “thrash-around” when it finds a new motherboard and will attempt to install new drivers for it. Often this will result in several restarts. Be sure you have undated drivers for the new motherboard, etc. Although, the process may/usually work-out OK; it may not, in which case you may have to do some Windows troubleshooting. The best procedure for trouble-free operation is to back-up you data, do a clean Windows install, restore your data, and reinstall all drivers and applications. In both cases it is advisable to remove all expansion boards and unnecessary drives until Windows is installed and working OK with the new motherboard and then reinstall each board, etc. one by one.
2. IDE interfaces support two disk drives… You will need an additional controller for the fifth drive unless you have one of the recent RAID motherboards, which have more than two IDE interfaces and can support more than four drives. I would get a RAID board (my choice would be Socket A/Athlon/Duron instead of Slot A) or get rid of one of the old drives.
Larry