Michael,, If you buy a pci card, get a serial interface instead of the ide -- about $40-$50. The serial drives (STA) are cheap and considerably faster the IDE type. My 2 cents worth. I did it with my quick silver and love it. Rich -----Original Message----- From: g4-bounces at listserver.themacintoshguy.com [mailto:g4-bounces at listserver.themacintoshguy.com] On Behalf Of Michael Sent: Tuesday, March 14, 2006 10:08 AM To: g4 at listserver.themacintoshguy.com Subject: [G4] "3rd disc" 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 _______________________________________________ G4 mailing list G4 at listserver.themacintoshguy.com http://listserver.themacintoshguy.com/mailman/listinfo/g4 Listmom is trying to clean out his closets! Vintage Mac and random stuff: http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZmacguy1984 -- No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.0.385 / Virus Database: 268.2.2/280 - Release Date: 3/13/2006