[G4] "3rd disc"

[Michael]

I'm sure it's do-able...[adding a third HD to a G4]

Mine is a G-E w/a useless Zip.
I have the original DVD sharing the Bus w/the Zip
+ 2 HD's in the bottom bay.

Regarding a third HD on a G4?

1.) I only need 1 extra HD...I also have a couple spare 20G HD's
2.) & #3 would be dedicated to decoding/manipulating large chunks of 
audio/video data. It's for 'parking' data-only (no apps).

A summary from a the 'mac-hardware' group:
"The easiest method is to buy a PCI IDE controller card. Each such card
usually has two IDE connectors which can have up to two devices each. That's
four possible devices."  (It goes on....)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
1.) Not gonna do that...(never used the Zip - - I won't miss it?!)
2.) I 'own' the spare drives, why not slide one on the channel which is 
supporting the unused Zip?

_This seems the way to go_
  (from the same mac group):

"If you don't want to buy a card, you can still do it. The motherboard 
ATA/66
connector can handle two drives, and so can the ATA/33 connector which feeds
the optical drive. Put two drives on the ATA/66 connector, and replace the
ribbon cable feeding the optical drive with a cable with a connector low
enough to attach to a third hard drive. If you have an internal Zip you'll
have to live without it. That's three drives."

So?
1.) I can replace the cable to the ZIp with a longer cable (to reach to 
the floor of the box where disc #3 will reside).
2.) The 3rd HD (according to the above) is as happy on that Bus 
<------<<<< [Question?]  (which *had* the Zip) as the 2 HD's I have on 
the floor.

Yes!?!

Or, why not....

[BTW, I only have a PCI USB 2.0 using an xtra slot.  Yeah, I could go 
fer a 'real' PCI IDE controller card  - - - how cheap would that be?)

Michael