Adding 2 extra SATA drives pn the cheap

I am looking at an inexpensive way to add 2 extra 500GB drives to a new quad 3.0 Mac Pro. 4 drives are in the machine now.
How about using the eSATA extender cable from Newer Technology to add 2 ports
http://www.newertech.com/products/esata_cable.php
and then adding an enclosure from OWC
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other%20World%20Computing/MESATATBEK/
I could then pick up 2 inexpensive 500GB drives such as a WD or Maxtor
Has anyone done this? It looks like the cheapest way to add a TB. I will not raid them or boot from them - just store data.
Mac Pro 3.0, G5 2.7, 2 intel iMacs, 1 MacBook, 1 Powerbook, 18 G4 Macs, 3 iPods   Mac OS X (10.4.9)   I teach Digital Photography clases - on Macs

Yes, a couple of us have. And there are reports of some on
http://www.xlr8yourmac.com
They have to be on at boot time or restart time. You can't power down and unmount while running. For two drives, go with FW800 cases.
The case, I bought one, and two small cool running drives got too warm and started giving my system the fits. They will run 10-15ºC higher. Spend $199 and get the FirmTek case. While at it, instead of the $25 kit, get a real SATA PCIe from Sonnet for $70. You will have a much much better solution.
I bought one WD 500GB and one MaxLine Pro (cheaper). The WD outpaces, outclasses, and runs 10ºC cooler. Not a big deal for backup drives (maybe use WD for internal boot drive, and move one to backups).
Disassembling Mac Pro is either hand sweating crazy and why do it; or you love to do such things, and have small fingers that can get in so you don't need to pull it apart. Another vote for Sonnet or FirmTek controller. Which are hot swap and can be unmounted and powered on/off as needed.
Penny-wise, yes, but maybe pound-foolish in the end. But I had to try and see how it goes. I was going to go with two drives in optical bays.
With summer and warmer temperatures, I am keeping my eye on drive temps, which is how I know the external case was hotter than internal drive temps by a full 15ºC.

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    [ 3013.249539] res 40/00:00:00:4f:c2/00:00:00:00:00/40 Emask 0x4 (timeout)
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    [ 3013.249545] ata1.00: failed command: WRITE FPDMA QUEUED
    [ 3013.249559] ata1.00: cmd 61/08:08:b8:60:7b/00:00:29:00:00/40 tag 1 ncq 4096 out
    [ 3013.249559] res 40/00:00:00:00:00/00:00:00:00:00/00 Emask 0x4 (timeout)
    [ 3013.249562] ata1.00: status: { DRDY }
    [ 3013.249564] ata1.00: failed command: WRITE FPDMA QUEUED
    [ 3013.249568] ata1.00: cmd 61/08:10:c0:60:7b/00:00:29:00:00/40 tag 2 ncq 4096 out
    [ 3013.249568] res 40/00:00:00:00:00/00:00:00:00:00/00 Emask 0x4 (timeout)
    [ 3013.249570] ata1.00: status: { DRDY }
    [ 3013.249572] ata1.00: failed command: WRITE FPDMA QUEUED
    [ 3013.249576] ata1.00: cmd 61/08:18:c8:60:7b/00:00:29:00:00/40 tag 3 ncq 4096 out
    [ 3013.249576] res 40/00:00:00:00:00/00:00:00:00:00/00 Emask 0x4 (timeout)
    [ 3013.249578] ata1.00: status: { DRDY }
    [ 3013.249580] ata1.00: failed command: WRITE FPDMA QUEUED
    [ 3013.249585] ata1.00: cmd 61/08:20:48:12:d7/00:00:18:00:00/40 tag 4 ncq 4096 out
    [ 3013.249585] res 40/00:00:00:00:00/00:00:00:00:00/00 Emask 0x4 (timeout)
    [ 3013.249587] ata1.00: status: { DRDY }
    [ 3013.249589] ata1.00: failed command: WRITE FPDMA QUEUED
    [ 3013.249593] ata1.00: cmd 61/08:28:28:63:38/00:00:19:00:00/40 tag 5 ncq 4096 out
    [ 3013.249593] res 40/00:00:00:00:00/00:00:00:00:00/00 Emask 0x4 (timeout)
    [ 3013.249595] ata1.00: status: { DRDY }
    [ 3013.249597] ata1.00: failed command: WRITE FPDMA QUEUED
    [ 3013.249601] ata1.00: cmd 61/08:30:28:6f:38/00:00:19:00:00/40 tag 6 ncq 4096 out
    [ 3013.249601] res 40/00:00:00:00:00/00:00:00:00:00/00 Emask 0x4 (timeout)
    [ 3013.249603] ata1.00: status: { DRDY }
    [ 3013.249605] ata1.00: failed command: WRITE FPDMA QUEUED
    [ 3013.249609] ata1.00: cmd 61/08:38:28:98:ae/00:00:25:00:00/40 tag 7 ncq 4096 out
    [ 3013.249609] res 40/00:00:00:00:00/00:00:00:00:00/00 Emask 0x4 (timeout)
    [ 3013.249611] ata1.00: status: { DRDY }
    [ 3013.249613] ata1.00: failed command: WRITE FPDMA QUEUED
    [ 3013.249617] ata1.00: cmd 61/08:40:d8:79:3b/00:00:25:00:00/40 tag 8 ncq 4096 out
    [ 3013.249617] res 40/00:00:00:00:00/00:00:00:00:00/00 Emask 0x4 (timeout)
    [ 3013.249619] ata1.00: status: { DRDY }
    [ 3013.249621] ata1.00: failed command: WRITE FPDMA QUEUED
    [ 3013.249625] ata1.00: cmd 61/08:48:08:98:b6/00:00:18:00:00/40 tag 9 ncq 4096 out
    [ 3013.249625] res 40/00:00:00:00:00/00:00:00:00:00/00 Emask 0x4 (timeout)
    [ 3013.249627] ata1.00: status: { DRDY }
    [ 3013.249629] ata1.00: failed command: WRITE FPDMA QUEUED
    [ 3013.249633] ata1.00: cmd 61/08:50:10:98:36/00:00:19:00:00/40 tag 10 ncq 4096 out
    [ 3013.249633] res 40/00:00:00:00:00/00:00:00:00:00/00 Emask 0x4 (timeout)
    [ 3013.249636] ata1.00: status: { DRDY }
    [ 3013.249640] ata1: hard resetting link
    [ 3013.575549] ata1: SATA link up 3.0 Gbps (SStatus 123 SControl 300)
    [ 3013.576784] ata1.00: ACPI cmd 00/00:00:00:00:00:a0 (NOP) rejected by device (Stat=0x51 Err=0x04)
    [ 3013.578334] ata1.00: ACPI cmd 00/00:00:00:00:00:a0 (NOP) rejected by device (Stat=0x51 Err=0x04)
    [ 3013.578588] ata1.00: configured for UDMA/133
    [ 3013.592223] ata1.00: device reported invalid CHS sector 0
    [ 3013.592233] ata1.00: device reported invalid CHS sector 0
    [ 3013.592238] ata1.00: device reported invalid CHS sector 0
    [ 3013.592242] ata1.00: device reported invalid CHS sector 0
    [ 3013.592246] ata1.00: device reported invalid CHS sector 0
    [ 3013.592250] ata1.00: device reported invalid CHS sector 0
    [ 3013.592254] ata1.00: device reported invalid CHS sector 0
    [ 3013.592258] ata1.00: device reported invalid CHS sector 0
    [ 3013.592263] ata1.00: device reported invalid CHS sector 0
    [ 3013.592267] ata1.00: device reported invalid CHS sector 0
    [ 3013.592271] ata1.00: device reported invalid CHS sector 0
    [ 3013.592302] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda]
    [ 3013.592306] Result: hostbyte=0x00 driverbyte=0x08
    [ 3013.592310] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda]
    [ 3013.592313] Sense Key : 0xb [current] [descriptor]
    [ 3013.592320] Descriptor sense data with sense descriptors (in hex):
    [ 3013.592323] 72 0b 00 00 00 00 00 0c 00 0a 80 00 00 00 00 00
    [ 3013.592342] 00 00 00 00
    [ 3013.592351] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda]
    [ 3013.592353] ASC=0x0 ASCQ=0x0
    [ 3013.592358] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] CDB:
    [ 3013.592361] cdb[0]=0x28: 28 00 24 ba b8 78 00 00 08 00
    [ 3013.592376] end_request: I/O error, dev sda, sector 616216696
    [ 3013.592414] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda]
    [ 3013.592417] Result: hostbyte=0x00 driverbyte=0x08
    [ 3013.592421] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda]
    [ 3013.592423] Sense Key : 0xb [current] [descriptor]
    [ 3013.592428] Descriptor sense data with sense descriptors (in hex):
    [ 3013.592431] 72 0b 00 00 00 00 00 0c 00 0a 80 00 00 00 00 00
    [ 3013.592449] 00 00 00 00
    [ 3013.592458] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda]
    [ 3013.592460] ASC=0x0 ASCQ=0x0
    [ 3013.592465] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] CDB:
    [ 3013.592467] cdb[0]=0x2a: 2a 00 29 7b 60 b8 00 00 08 00
    [ 3013.592482] end_request: I/O error, dev sda, sector 695951544
    [ 3013.592505] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda]
    [ 3013.592508] Result: hostbyte=0x00 driverbyte=0x08
    [ 3013.592512] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda]
    [ 3013.592514] Sense Key : 0xb [current] [descriptor]
    [ 3013.592519] Descriptor sense data with sense descriptors (in hex):
    [ 3013.592522] 72 0b 00 00 00 00 00 0c 00 0a 80 00 00 00 00 00
    [ 3013.592540] 00 00 00 00
    [ 3013.592549] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda]
    [ 3013.592551] ASC=0x0 ASCQ=0x0
    [ 3013.592556] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] CDB:
    [ 3013.592558] cdb[0]=0x2a: 2a 00 29 7b 60 c0 00 00 08 00
    [ 3013.592572] end_request: I/O error, dev sda, sector 695951552
    [ 3013.592583] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda]
    [ 3013.592586] Result: hostbyte=0x00 driverbyte=0x08
    [ 3013.592589] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda]
    [ 3013.592592] Sense Key : 0xb [current] [descriptor]
    [ 3013.592597] Descriptor sense data with sense descriptors (in hex):
    [ 3013.592599] 72 0b 00 00 00 00 00 0c 00 0a 80 00 00 00 00 00
    [ 3013.592618] 00 00 00 00
    [ 3013.592626] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda]
    [ 3013.592628] ASC=0x0 ASCQ=0x0
    [ 3013.592632] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] CDB:
    [ 3013.592635] cdb[0]=0x2a: 2a 00 29 7b 60 c8 00 00 08 00
    [ 3013.592649] end_request: I/O error, dev sda, sector 695951560
    [ 3013.592665] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda]
    [ 3013.592668] Result: hostbyte=0x00 driverbyte=0x08
    [ 3013.592671] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda]
    [ 3013.592673] Sense Key : 0xb [current] [descriptor]
    [ 3013.592678] Descriptor sense data with sense descriptors (in hex):
    [ 3013.592684] Aborting journal on device dm-0-8.
    [ 3013.592701] EXT4-fs error (device dm-0) in ext4_reserve_inode_write:4476: Journal has aborted
    [ 3013.592687] 72 0b 00 00 00 00 00 0c 00 0a 80 00 00 00 00 00
    [ 3013.592723] 00 00 00 00
    [ 3013.592729] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda]
    [ 3013.592730] ASC=0x0 ASCQ=0x0
    [ 3013.592733] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] CDB:
    [ 3013.592735] cdb[0]=0x2a: 2a 00 18 d7 12 48 00 00 08 00
    [ 3013.592744] end_request: I/O error, dev sda, sector 416748104
    [ 3013.592752] Buffer I/O error on device dm-0, logical block 266057
    [ 3013.592760] EXT4-fs warning (device dm-0): ext4_end_bio:250: I/O error writing to inode 5902184 (offset 258048 size 4096 starting block 266057)
    [ 3013.592766] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda]
    [ 3013.592768] Result: hostbyte=0x00 driverbyte=0x08
    [ 3013.592771] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda]
    [ 3013.592772] Sense Key : 0xb [current] [descriptor]
    [ 3013.592776] Descriptor sense data with sense descriptors (in hex):
    [ 3013.592778] 72 0b 00 00 00 00 00 0c 00 0a 80 00 00 00 00 00
    [ 3013.592790] 00 00 00 00
    [ 3013.592795] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda]
    [ 3013.592797] ASC=0x0 ASCQ=0x0
    [ 3013.592800] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] CDB:
    [ 3013.592801] cdb[0]=0x2a: 2a 00 19 38 63 28 00 00 08 00
    [ 3013.592811] end_request: I/O error, dev sda, sector 423125800
    [ 3013.592817] Buffer I/O error on device dm-0, logical block 1063269
    [ 3013.592822] EXT4-fs warning (device dm-0): ext4_end_bio:250: I/O error writing to inode 5898577 (offset 970752 size 4096 starting block 1063269)
    [ 3013.592842] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda]
    [ 3013.592845] Result: hostbyte=0x00 driverbyte=0x08
    [ 3013.592849] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda]
    [ 3013.592851] Sense Key : 0xb [current] [descriptor]
    [ 3013.592856] Descriptor sense data with sense descriptors (in hex):
    [ 3013.592859] 72 0b 00 00 00 00 00 0c 00 0a 80 00 00 00 00 00
    [ 3013.592877] 00 00 00 00
    [ 3013.592885] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda]
    [ 3013.592887] ASC=0x0 ASCQ=0x0
    [ 3013.592892] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] CDB:
    [ 3013.592894] cdb[0]=0x2a: 2a 00 19 38 6f 28 00 00 08 00
    [ 3013.592908] end_request: I/O error, dev sda, sector 423128872
    [ 3013.592915] Buffer I/O error on device dm-0, logical block 1063653
    [ 3013.592922] EXT4-fs warning (device dm-0): ext4_end_bio:250: I/O error writing to inode 5902187 (offset 1171456 size 4096 starting block 1063653)
    [ 3013.592931] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda]
    [ 3013.592934] Result: hostbyte=0x00 driverbyte=0x08
    [ 3013.592937] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda]
    [ 3013.592940] Sense Key : 0xb [current] [descriptor]
    [ 3013.592945] Descriptor sense data with sense descriptors (in hex):
    [ 3013.592947] 72 0b 00 00 00 00 00 0c 00 0a 80 00 00 00 00 00
    [ 3013.592966] 00 00 00 00
    [ 3013.592974] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda]
    [ 3013.592976] ASC=0x0 ASCQ=0x0
    [ 3013.592980] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] CDB:
    [ 3013.592983] cdb[0]=0x2a: 2a 00 25 ae 98 28 00 00 08 00
    [ 3013.592997] end_request: I/O error, dev sda, sector 632199208
    [ 3013.593006] Buffer I/O error on device dm-0, logical block 27197445
    [ 3013.593018] EXT4-fs warning (device dm-0): ext4_end_bio:250: I/O error writing to inode 6425165 (offset 151552 size 4096 starting block 27197445)
    [ 3013.593028] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda]
    [ 3013.593031] Result: hostbyte=0x00 driverbyte=0x08
    [ 3013.593034] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda]
    [ 3013.593037] Sense Key : 0xb [current] [descriptor]
    [ 3013.593042] Descriptor sense data with sense descriptors (in hex):
    [ 3013.593045] 72 0b 00 00 00 00 00 0c 00 0a 80 00 00 00 00 00
    [ 3013.593063] 00 00 00 00
    [ 3013.593071] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda]
    [ 3013.593073] ASC=0x0 ASCQ=0x0
    [ 3013.593078] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] CDB:
    [ 3013.593085] EXT4-fs error (device dm-0) in ext4_reserve_inode_write:4476: Journal has aborted
    [ 3013.593089] cdb[0]=0x2a: 2a 00 25 3b 79 d8 00 00 08 00
    [ 3013.593104] end_request: I/O error, dev sda, sector 624654808
    [ 3013.593111] Buffer I/O error on device dm-0, logical block 26254395
    [ 3013.593115] lost page write due to I/O error on dm-0
    [ 3013.593126] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda]
    [ 3013.593129] Result: hostbyte=0x00 driverbyte=0x08
    [ 3013.593132] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda]
    [ 3013.593135] Sense Key : 0xb [current] [descriptor]
    [ 3013.593140] Descriptor sense data with sense descriptors (in hex):
    [ 3013.593142] 72 0b 00 00 00 00 00 0c 00 0a 80 00 00 00 00 00
    [ 3013.593161] 00 00 00 00
    [ 3013.593169] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda]
    [ 3013.593171] ASC=0x0 ASCQ=0x0
    [ 3013.593175] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] CDB:
    [ 3013.593178] cdb[0]=0x2a: 2a 00 18 b6 98 08 00 00 08 00
    [ 3013.593192] end_request: I/O error, dev sda, sector 414619656
    [ 3013.593198] Buffer I/O error on device dm-0, logical block 1
    [ 3013.593201] lost page write due to I/O error on dm-0
    [ 3013.593211] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda]
    [ 3013.593213] Result: hostbyte=0x00 driverbyte=0x08
    [ 3013.593217] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda]
    [ 3013.593219] Sense Key : 0xb [current] [descriptor]
    [ 3013.593224] Descriptor sense data with sense descriptors (in hex):
    [ 3013.593227] 72 0b 00 00 00 00 00 0c 00 0a 80 00 00 00 00 00
    [ 3013.593245] 00 00 00 00
    [ 3013.593253] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda]
    [ 3013.593256] ASC=0x0 ASCQ=0x0
    [ 3013.593260] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] CDB:
    [ 3013.593262] cdb[0]=0x2a: 2a 00 19 36 98 10 00 00 08 00
    [ 3013.593277] end_request: I/O error, dev sda, sector 423008272
    [ 3013.593283] Buffer I/O error on device dm-0, logical block 1048578
    [ 3013.593286] lost page write due to I/O error on dm-0
    [ 3013.593298] ata1: EH complete
    [ 3013.595707] EXT4-fs error (device dm-0) in ext4_dirty_inode:4603: Journal has aborted
    [ 3013.596581] EXT4-fs error (device dm-0): ext4_journal_start_sb:370: Detected aborted journal
    [ 3013.596591] EXT4-fs (dm-0): Remounting filesystem read-only
    [ 3020.421558] journal commit I/O error
    [ 3020.421570] journal commit I/O error
    [ 3020.421574] journal commit I/O error
    [ 3020.421578] journal commit I/O error
    [ 3020.421581] journal commit I/O error
    [ 3147.052191] ata1.00: exception Emask 0x0 SAct 0xf SErr 0x0 action 0x6 frozen
    [ 3147.052197] ata1.00: failed command: READ FPDMA QUEUED
    [ 3147.052209] ata1.00: cmd 60/50:00:d0:48:99/00:00:1c:00:00/40 tag 0 ncq 40960 in
    [ 3147.052209] res 40/00:00:00:4f:c2/00:00:00:00:00/40 Emask 0x4 (timeout)
    [ 3147.052212] ata1.00: status: { DRDY }
    [ 3147.052213] ata1.00: failed command: READ FPDMA QUEUED
    [ 3147.052218] ata1.00: cmd 60/18:08:28:49:99/00:00:1c:00:00/40 tag 1 ncq 12288 in
    [ 3147.052218] res 40/00:00:00:00:00/00:00:00:00:00/00 Emask 0x4 (timeout)
    [ 3147.052220] ata1.00: status: { DRDY }
    [ 3147.052221] ata1.00: failed command: READ FPDMA QUEUED
    [ 3147.052226] ata1.00: cmd 60/88:10:48:49:99/00:00:1c:00:00/40 tag 2 ncq 69632 in
    [ 3147.052226] res 40/00:00:00:00:00/00:00:00:00:00/00 Emask 0x4 (timeout)
    [ 3147.052228] ata1.00: status: { DRDY }
    [ 3147.052229] ata1.00: failed command: READ FPDMA QUEUED
    [ 3147.052234] ata1.00: cmd 60/20:18:00:a4:ba/00:00:24:00:00/40 tag 3 ncq 16384 in
    [ 3147.052234] res 40/00:00:00:00:00/00:00:00:00:00/00 Emask 0x4 (timeout)
    [ 3147.052236] ata1.00: status: { DRDY }
    [ 3147.052239] ata1: hard resetting link
    [ 3147.378368] ata1: SATA link up 3.0 Gbps (SStatus 123 SControl 300)
    [ 3148.066853] ata1.00: ACPI cmd ef/5a:00:00:00:00:a0 (SET FEATURES) succeeded
    [ 3148.069139] ata1.00: ACPI cmd 00/00:00:00:00:00:a0 (NOP) rejected by device (Stat=0x51 Err=0x04)
    [ 3148.069393] ata1.00: configured for UDMA/133
    [ 3148.080059] ata1.00: device reported invalid CHS sector 0
    [ 3148.080066] ata1.00: device reported invalid CHS sector 0
    [ 3148.080071] ata1.00: device reported invalid CHS sector 0
    [ 3148.080075] ata1.00: device reported invalid CHS sector 0
    [ 3148.080112] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda]
    [ 3148.080114] Result: hostbyte=0x00 driverbyte=0x08
    [ 3148.080117] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda]
    [ 3148.080118] Sense Key : 0xb [current] [descriptor]
    [ 3148.080123] Descriptor sense data with sense descriptors (in hex):
    [ 3148.080125] 72 0b 00 00 00 00 00 0c 00 0a 80 00 00 00 00 00
    [ 3148.080136] 00 00 00 00
    [ 3148.080140] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda]
    [ 3148.080142] ASC=0x0 ASCQ=0x0
    [ 3148.080145] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] CDB:
    [ 3148.080146] cdb[0]=0x28: 28 00 1c 99 48 d0 00 00 50 00
    [ 3148.080156] end_request: I/O error, dev sda, sector 479807696
    [ 3148.080170] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda]
    [ 3148.080171] Result: hostbyte=0x00 driverbyte=0x08
    [ 3148.080173] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda]
    [ 3148.080175] Sense Key : 0xb [current] [descriptor]
    [ 3148.080178] Descriptor sense data with sense descriptors (in hex):
    [ 3148.080180] 72 0b 00 00 00 00 00 0c 00 0a 80 00 00 00 00 00
    [ 3148.080190] 00 00 00 00
    [ 3148.080195] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda]
    [ 3148.080196] ASC=0x0 ASCQ=0x0
    [ 3148.080199] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] CDB:
    [ 3148.080200] cdb[0]=0x28: 28 00 1c 99 49 28 00 00 18 00
    [ 3148.080209] end_request: I/O error, dev sda, sector 479807784
    [ 3148.080216] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda]
    [ 3148.080218] Result: hostbyte=0x00 driverbyte=0x08
    [ 3148.080220] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda]
    [ 3148.080221] Sense Key : 0xb [current] [descriptor]
    [ 3148.080224] Descriptor sense data with sense descriptors (in hex):
    [ 3148.080225] 72 0b 00 00 00 00 00 0c 00 0a 80 00 00 00 00 00
    [ 3148.080236] 00 00 00 00
    [ 3148.080241] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda]
    [ 3148.080242] ASC=0x0 ASCQ=0x0
    [ 3148.080245] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] CDB:
    [ 3148.080246] cdb[0]=0x28: 28 00 1c 99 49 48 00 00 88 00
    [ 3148.080254] end_request: I/O error, dev sda, sector 479807816
    [ 3148.080267] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda]
    [ 3148.080268] Result: hostbyte=0x00 driverbyte=0x08
    [ 3148.080270] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda]
    [ 3148.080272] Sense Key : 0xb [current] [descriptor]
    [ 3148.080274] Descriptor sense data with sense descriptors (in hex):
    [ 3148.080276] 72 0b 00 00 00 00 00 0c 00 0a 80 00 00 00 00 00
    [ 3148.080287] 00 00 00 00
    [ 3148.080291] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda]
    [ 3148.080293] ASC=0x0 ASCQ=0x0
    [ 3148.080295] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] CDB:
    [ 3148.080296] cdb[0]=0x28: 28 00 24 ba a4 00 00 00 20 00
    [ 3148.080305] end_request: I/O error, dev sda, sector 616211456
    [ 3148.080315] ata1: EH complete
    I have experimented, and found that if I turn off NCQ on the kernel command line in my bootloader (libata.force=noncq), that it takes longer before the problem occurs.  Though, if I write enough to the second drive, it does still happen after a while, just greatly reduced its chances of happening.
    Is it possible that the old drive (sdb) is causing the problem?  I noticed that it is much noisier than I remember when the drive head moves around.
    Another curiosity while I was trying to duplicate the problem:
      - I start a large file copy from sda -> sdb
      - At the same time in another terminal, I do "find / -print"
      - When I hear the drive 2 head moving, it pauses the output of the "find" command.
    Every time I hear the head move, I see the find output pause.  Its almost like the drive seek on drive 2 causes the whole Sata controller to pause while the head moves.  Very odd!
    Anyone have any ideas?   I think the next thing I will try is borrow a drive from another machine, and do the big write to it to see if I get the same results.
    If it is of any help, here is some more info on the laptop:
    lspci:
    00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 2nd Generation Core Processor Family DRAM Controller (rev 09)
    00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Xeon E3-1200/2nd Generation Core Processor Family PCI Express Root Port (rev 09)
    00:16.0 Communication controller: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family MEI Controller #1 (rev 04)
    00:1a.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family USB Enhanced Host Controller #2 (rev 05)
    00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family High Definition Audio Controller (rev 05)
    00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 1 (rev b5)
    00:1c.2 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 3 (rev b5)
    00:1c.3 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 4 (rev b5)
    00:1c.5 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 6 (rev b5)
    00:1d.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family USB Enhanced Host Controller #1 (rev 05)
    00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation HM67 Express Chipset Family LPC Controller (rev 05)
    00:1f.2 SATA controller: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family 6 port SATA AHCI Controller (rev 05)
    00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family SMBus Controller (rev 05)
    01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: NVIDIA Corporation Device 1251 (rev a1)
    01:00.1 Audio device: NVIDIA Corporation GF116 High Definition Audio Controller (rev a1)
    07:00.0 Ethernet controller: Atheros Communications Inc. AR8151 v2.0 Gigabit Ethernet (rev c0)
    0d:00.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation Centrino Advanced-N + WiMAX 6250 (rev 5e)
    13:00.0 Unassigned class [ff00]: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTS5209 PCI Express Card Reader (rev 01)
    13:00.1 SD Host controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTS5209 PCI Express Card Reader (rev 01)
    19:00.0 USB controller: NEC Corporation uPD720200 USB 3.0 Host Controller (rev 04)
    cat /proc/interrupts:
    CPU0 CPU1 CPU2 CPU3 CPU4 CPU5 CPU6 CPU7
    0: 50 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 IO-APIC-edge timer
    1: 958 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 IO-APIC-edge i8042
    8: 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 IO-APIC-edge rtc0
    9: 1675 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 IO-APIC-fasteoi acpi
    12: 12257 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 IO-APIC-edge i8042
    16: 24769 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 IO-APIC-fasteoi ehci_hcd:usb1, mmc0, nvidia
    17: 142 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 IO-APIC-fasteoi snd_hda_intel
    19: 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 IO-APIC-fasteoi rts_pstor
    23: 1937 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 IO-APIC-fasteoi ehci_hcd:usb4
    41: 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 PCI-MSI-edge xhci_hcd
    42: 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 PCI-MSI-edge xhci_hcd
    43: 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 PCI-MSI-edge xhci_hcd
    44: 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 PCI-MSI-edge xhci_hcd
    45: 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 PCI-MSI-edge xhci_hcd
    46: 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 PCI-MSI-edge xhci_hcd
    47: 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 PCI-MSI-edge xhci_hcd
    48: 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 PCI-MSI-edge xhci_hcd
    49: 19406 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 PCI-MSI-edge iwlwifi
    50: 36099 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 PCI-MSI-edge ahci
    51: 14 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 PCI-MSI-edge mei
    52: 386378 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 PCI-MSI-edge snd_hda_intel
    53: 56803 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 PCI-MSI-edge eth0
    NMI: 34 5 19 5 18 4 13 4 Non-maskable interrupts
    LOC: 77964 17705 161241 14302 187823 16150 56845 12750 Local timer interrupts
    SPU: 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Spurious interrupts
    PMI: 34 5 19 5 18 4 13 4 Performance monitoring interrupts
    IWI: 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 IRQ work interrupts
    RTR: 7 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 APIC ICR read retries
    RES: 13721 7023 304 110 175 110 213 123 Rescheduling interrupts
    CAL: 6941 7677 2774 7670 5804 7568 7655 7673 Function call interrupts
    TLB: 366 545 268 179 310 272 212 166 TLB shootdowns
    TRM: 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Thermal event interrupts
    THR: 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Threshold APIC interrupts
    MCE: 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Machine check exceptions
    MCP: 29 29 29 29 29 29 29 29 Machine check polls
    ERR: 0
    MIS: 0
    smartctl --all /dev/sda
    smartctl 5.43 2012-06-30 r3573 [x86_64-linux-3.5.3-1-ARCH] (local build)
    Copyright (C) 2002-12 by Bruce Allen, http://smartmontools.sourceforge.net
    === START OF INFORMATION SECTION ===
    Device Model: ST9500423AS
    Serial Number: 5WS354LM
    LU WWN Device Id: 5 000c50 044bb741b
    Firmware Version: 0005DEM1
    User Capacity: 500,107,862,016 bytes [500 GB]
    Sector Sizes: 512 bytes logical, 4096 bytes physical
    Device is: Not in smartctl database [for details use: -P showall]
    ATA Version is: 8
    ATA Standard is: ATA-8-ACS revision 4
    Local Time is: Thu Sep 13 15:26:14 2012 CDT
    SMART support is: Available - device has SMART capability.
    SMART support is: Enabled
    === START OF READ SMART DATA SECTION ===
    SMART overall-health self-assessment test result: PASSED
    General SMART Values:
    Offline data collection status: (0x00) Offline data collection activity
    was never started.
    Auto Offline Data Collection: Disabled.
    Self-test execution status: ( 0) The previous self-test routine completed
    without error or no self-test has ever
    been run.
    Total time to complete Offline
    data collection: ( 0) seconds.
    Offline data collection
    capabilities: (0x73) SMART execute Offline immediate.
    Auto Offline data collection on/off support.
    Suspend Offline collection upon new
    command.
    No Offline surface scan supported.
    Self-test supported.
    Conveyance Self-test supported.
    Selective Self-test supported.
    SMART capabilities: (0x0003) Saves SMART data before entering
    power-saving mode.
    Supports SMART auto save timer.
    Error logging capability: (0x01) Error logging supported.
    General Purpose Logging supported.
    Short self-test routine
    recommended polling time: ( 2) minutes.
    Extended self-test routine
    recommended polling time: ( 105) minutes.
    Conveyance self-test routine
    recommended polling time: ( 3) minutes.
    SCT capabilities: (0x303f) SCT Status supported.
    SCT Error Recovery Control supported.
    SCT Feature Control supported.
    SCT Data Table supported.
    SMART Attributes Data Structure revision number: 10
    Vendor Specific SMART Attributes with Thresholds:
    ID# ATTRIBUTE_NAME FLAG VALUE WORST THRESH TYPE UPDATED WHEN_FAILED RAW_VALUE
    1 Raw_Read_Error_Rate 0x000f 113 099 006 Pre-fail Always - 54715920
    3 Spin_Up_Time 0x0003 098 098 085 Pre-fail Always - 0
    4 Start_Stop_Count 0x0032 099 099 020 Old_age Always - 1114
    5 Reallocated_Sector_Ct 0x0033 100 100 036 Pre-fail Always - 0
    7 Seek_Error_Rate 0x000f 069 060 030 Pre-fail Always - 10214892
    9 Power_On_Hours 0x0032 098 098 000 Old_age Always - 2030
    10 Spin_Retry_Count 0x0013 100 100 097 Pre-fail Always - 0
    12 Power_Cycle_Count 0x0032 100 100 020 Old_age Always - 559
    184 End-to-End_Error 0x0032 100 100 099 Old_age Always - 0
    187 Reported_Uncorrect 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0
    188 Command_Timeout 0x0032 100 098 000 Old_age Always - 8590065667
    189 High_Fly_Writes 0x003a 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0
    190 Airflow_Temperature_Cel 0x0022 053 049 045 Old_age Always - 47 (Min/Max 47/51)
    191 G-Sense_Error_Rate 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 17
    192 Power-Off_Retract_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 871
    193 Load_Cycle_Count 0x0032 039 039 000 Old_age Always - 122293
    194 Temperature_Celsius 0x0022 047 051 000 Old_age Always - 47 (0 17 0 0 0)
    195 Hardware_ECC_Recovered 0x001a 113 099 000 Old_age Always - 54715920
    197 Current_Pending_Sector 0x0012 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0
    198 Offline_Uncorrectable 0x0010 100 100 000 Old_age Offline - 0
    199 UDMA_CRC_Error_Count 0x003e 200 200 000 Old_age Always - 0
    240 Head_Flying_Hours 0x0000 100 253 000 Old_age Offline - 67229123085518
    241 Total_LBAs_Written 0x0000 100 253 000 Old_age Offline - 1947733828
    242 Total_LBAs_Read 0x0000 100 253 000 Old_age Offline - 2798982459
    254 Free_Fall_Sensor 0x0032 001 001 000 Old_age Always - 899
    SMART Error Log Version: 1
    ATA Error Count: 8 (device log contains only the most recent five errors)
    CR = Command Register [HEX]
    FR = Features Register [HEX]
    SC = Sector Count Register [HEX]
    SN = Sector Number Register [HEX]
    CL = Cylinder Low Register [HEX]
    CH = Cylinder High Register [HEX]
    DH = Device/Head Register [HEX]
    DC = Device Command Register [HEX]
    ER = Error register [HEX]
    ST = Status register [HEX]
    Powered_Up_Time is measured from power on, and printed as
    DDd+hh:mm:SS.sss where DD=days, hh=hours, mm=minutes,
    SS=sec, and sss=millisec. It "wraps" after 49.710 days.
    Error 8 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 2017 hours (84 days + 1 hours)
    When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was active or idle.
    After command completion occurred, registers were:
    ER ST SC SN CL CH DH
    04 71 09 a9 00 80 e0 Device Fault; Error: ABRT
    Commands leading to the command that caused the error were:
    CR FR SC SN CL CH DH DC Powered_Up_Time Command/Feature_Name
    a1 00 00 00 00 00 a0 00 05:21:04.438 IDENTIFY PACKET DEVICE
    ec 00 00 00 00 00 a0 00 05:21:04.438 IDENTIFY DEVICE
    00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ff 05:21:04.124 NOP [Abort queued commands]
    a1 00 00 00 00 00 a0 00 05:20:59.118 IDENTIFY PACKET DEVICE
    ec 00 00 00 00 00 a0 00 05:20:59.118 IDENTIFY DEVICE
    Error 7 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 2017 hours (84 days + 1 hours)
    When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was active or idle.
    After command completion occurred, registers were:
    ER ST SC SN CL CH DH
    04 71 09 a9 00 80 e0
    Commands leading to the command that caused the error were:
    CR FR SC SN CL CH DH DC Powered_Up_Time Command/Feature_Name
    ec 00 00 00 00 00 a0 00 05:21:04.438 IDENTIFY DEVICE
    00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ff 05:21:04.124 NOP [Abort queued commands]
    a1 00 00 00 00 00 a0 00 05:20:59.118 IDENTIFY PACKET DEVICE
    ec 00 00 00 00 00 a0 00 05:20:59.118 IDENTIFY DEVICE
    00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ff 05:20:58.805 NOP [Abort queued commands]
    Error 6 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 2017 hours (84 days + 1 hours)
    When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was active or idle.
    After command completion occurred, registers were:
    ER ST SC SN CL CH DH
    04 71 09 a9 00 80 e0 Device Fault; Error: ABRT
    Commands leading to the command that caused the error were:
    CR FR SC SN CL CH DH DC Powered_Up_Time Command/Feature_Name
    a1 00 00 00 00 00 a0 00 05:20:59.118 IDENTIFY PACKET DEVICE
    ec 00 00 00 00 00 a0 00 05:20:59.118 IDENTIFY DEVICE
    00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ff 05:20:58.805 NOP [Abort queued commands]
    a1 00 00 00 00 00 a0 00 05:20:58.761 IDENTIFY PACKET DEVICE
    ec 00 00 00 00 00 a0 00 05:20:58.725 IDENTIFY DEVICE
    Error 5 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 2017 hours (84 days + 1 hours)
    When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was active or idle.
    After command completion occurred, registers were:
    ER ST SC SN CL CH DH
    04 71 09 a9 00 80 e0
    Commands leading to the command that caused the error were:
    CR FR SC SN CL CH DH DC Powered_Up_Time Command/Feature_Name
    ec 00 00 00 00 00 a0 00 05:20:59.118 IDENTIFY DEVICE
    00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ff 05:20:58.805 NOP [Abort queued commands]
    a1 00 00 00 00 00 a0 00 05:20:58.761 IDENTIFY PACKET DEVICE
    ec 00 00 00 00 00 a0 00 05:20:58.725 IDENTIFY DEVICE
    2f 00 01 10 00 00 a0 00 05:20:58.724 READ LOG EXT
    Error 4 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 2017 hours (84 days + 1 hours)
    When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was active or idle.
    After command completion occurred, registers were:
    ER ST SC SN CL CH DH
    04 71 09 a9 00 80 e0 Device Fault; Error: ABRT
    Commands leading to the command that caused the error were:
    CR FR SC SN CL CH DH DC Powered_Up_Time Command/Feature_Name
    a1 00 00 00 00 00 a0 00 05:20:58.761 IDENTIFY PACKET DEVICE
    ec 00 00 00 00 00 a0 00 05:20:58.725 IDENTIFY DEVICE
    2f 00 01 10 00 00 a0 00 05:20:58.724 READ LOG EXT
    61 00 08 ff ff ff 4f 00 05:20:58.724 WRITE FPDMA QUEUED
    61 00 08 ff ff ff 4f 00 05:20:58.724 WRITE FPDMA QUEUED
    SMART Self-test log structure revision number 1
    Num Test_Description Status Remaining LifeTime(hours) LBA_of_first_error
    # 1 Extended offline Completed without error 00% 6 -
    # 2 Short offline Aborted by host 90% 1 -
    SMART Selective self-test log data structure revision number 1
    SPAN MIN_LBA MAX_LBA CURRENT_TEST_STATUS
    1 0 0 Not_testing
    2 0 0 Not_testing
    3 0 0 Not_testing
    4 0 0 Not_testing
    5 0 0 Not_testing
    Selective self-test flags (0x0):
    After scanning selected spans, do NOT read-scan remainder of disk.
    If Selective self-test is pending on power-up, resume after 0 minute delay.
    smartctl --all /dev/sdb
    smartctl 5.43 2012-06-30 r3573 [x86_64-linux-3.5.3-1-ARCH] (local build)
    Copyright (C) 2002-12 by Bruce Allen, http://smartmontools.sourceforge.net
    === START OF INFORMATION SECTION ===
    Model Family: SAMSUNG SpinPoint M6
    Device Model: SAMSUNG HM320JI
    Serial Number: S16LJF0QB02815
    LU WWN Device Id: 5 0f0000 001202815
    Firmware Version: 2SS00_01
    User Capacity: 320,072,933,376 bytes [320 GB]
    Sector Size: 512 bytes logical/physical
    Device is: In smartctl database [for details use: -P show]
    ATA Version is: 7
    ATA Standard is: ATA/ATAPI-7 T13 1532D revision 0
    Local Time is: Thu Sep 13 15:27:10 2012 CDT
    SMART support is: Available - device has SMART capability.
    SMART support is: Enabled
    === START OF READ SMART DATA SECTION ===
    SMART overall-health self-assessment test result: PASSED
    General SMART Values:
    Offline data collection status: (0x00) Offline data collection activity
    was never started.
    Auto Offline Data Collection: Disabled.
    Self-test execution status: ( 0) The previous self-test routine completed
    without error or no self-test has ever
    been run.
    Total time to complete Offline
    data collection: ( 110) seconds.
    Offline data collection
    capabilities: (0x5b) SMART execute Offline immediate.
    Auto Offline data collection on/off support.
    Suspend Offline collection upon new
    command.
    Offline surface scan supported.
    Self-test supported.
    No Conveyance Self-test supported.
    Selective Self-test supported.
    SMART capabilities: (0x0003) Saves SMART data before entering
    power-saving mode.
    Supports SMART auto save timer.
    Error logging capability: (0x01) Error logging supported.
    General Purpose Logging supported.
    Short self-test routine
    recommended polling time: ( 2) minutes.
    Extended self-test routine
    recommended polling time: ( 110) minutes.
    SCT capabilities: (0x003f) SCT Status supported.
    SCT Error Recovery Control supported.
    SCT Feature Control supported.
    SCT Data Table supported.
    SMART Attributes Data Structure revision number: 16
    Vendor Specific SMART Attributes with Thresholds:
    ID# ATTRIBUTE_NAME FLAG VALUE WORST THRESH TYPE UPDATED WHEN_FAILED RAW_VALUE
    1 Raw_Read_Error_Rate 0x000f 100 100 051 Pre-fail Always - 0
    3 Spin_Up_Time 0x0007 252 252 025 Pre-fail Always - 2562
    4 Start_Stop_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 810
    5 Reallocated_Sector_Ct 0x0033 252 252 010 Pre-fail Always - 0
    7 Seek_Error_Rate 0x000e 252 252 051 Old_age Always - 0
    8 Seek_Time_Performance 0x0024 252 252 015 Old_age Offline - 0
    9 Power_On_Hours 0x0032 092 092 000 Old_age Always - 4842
    10 Spin_Retry_Count 0x0032 252 252 051 Old_age Always - 0
    12 Power_Cycle_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 440
    191 G-Sense_Error_Rate 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 154
    192 Power-Off_Retract_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 71
    194 Temperature_Celsius 0x0022 073 073 000 Old_age Always - 55 (Min/Max 17/55)
    195 Hardware_ECC_Recovered 0x001a 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 1
    196 Reallocated_Event_Count 0x0032 252 252 000 Old_age Always - 0
    197 Current_Pending_Sector 0x0012 252 252 000 Old_age Always - 0
    198 Offline_Uncorrectable 0x0030 252 252 000 Old_age Offline - 0
    199 UDMA_CRC_Error_Count 0x0036 200 200 000 Old_age Always - 0
    200 Multi_Zone_Error_Rate 0x000a 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0
    201 Soft_Read_Error_Rate 0x0032 252 252 000 Old_age Always - 0
    223 Load_Retry_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 534
    225 Load_Cycle_Count 0x0032 077 077 000 Old_age Always - 236803
    SMART Error Log Version: 1
    No Errors Logged
    SMART Self-test log structure revision number 1
    No self-tests have been logged. [To run self-tests, use: smartctl -t]
    Note: selective self-test log revision number (0) not 1 implies that no selective self-test has ever been run
    SMART Selective self-test log data structure revision number 0
    Note: revision number not 1 implies that no selective self-test has ever been run
    SPAN MIN_LBA MAX_LBA CURRENT_TEST_STATUS
    1 0 0 Not_testing
    2 0 0 Not_testing
    3 0 0 Not_testing
    4 0 0 Not_testing
    5 0 0 Not_testing
    Selective self-test flags (0x0):
    After scanning selected spans, do NOT read-scan remainder of disk.
    If Selective self-test is pending on power-up, resume after 0 minute delay.
    Last edited by johni (2012-09-16 00:46:54)

    It appears my drive one really is failing.  It was the first drive and not the second making the loud head seek sound.  I borrowed another drive from a friend, and copied my drive one to it.   No problems with the new drive in place.

  • Adding A New Hard Drive

    I've been thinking about adding a second hard drive.  The problem is that I'm not sure which configuration would best fit my needs.
    Currently I have one 120GB Maxtor SATA drive which, after six months, is half full.  This leads me to conclude that eventually I'm going to fill it up.
    Since I have only this one drive and no DVD writer, I don't have any good way of backing up my drive in case something fails.  I don't have any vital data, but I've spent a long time getting my settings perfect, and I don't want to lose them.
    I also know that doing a RAID doesn't give me more space.  I know that RAID 0 basically uses two drives in parallel to double the storage efficiency, but if one drive fails, all the data on both is lost.  I also know that RAID 1 copies all changes to the second hard drive and thus also does not increase my overall storage space.
    What are my other options?  If I buy another SATA drive, what ways do I have to copy my entire disk onto the new one?  How does XP handle installation on the new drive?  How do I switch between drives?  I was thinking that I could put all my large music and video files on the new drive and then optimize my old drive for my games.  This will still make it possible for me to listen to my music in Winamp while playing a game, right?
    How do I install the new drive?  Do I have to go into my BIOS and configure something?  Here's what it says about my IDE setup (I don't know what IDE means either.)
    Primary IDE Master = DVD-ROM
    Primary IDE Slave = CD - RW
    Secondary IDE Master = n/a
    Secondary IDE Slave = n/a
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    Third IDE Master = n/a
    etc.
    What does Master/Slave mean as far as usage and performance goes?  Which SATA plug should I use for the new drive?
    Sorry for the silly questions, I've never used a machine with more than one hard drive before.
    EDIT:  What brand hard disk do you guys recommend?  I have in mind either Western Digital or Seagate.  I won't have any compatibility or performance issues from using two drives of different make and capacity, will I?
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    Intel Pentium 4 2.8e HTT @ 3.26GHz
    Thermaltake Spark 7+ Xaser Edition A1715 CPU Cooler
    MSI 865PE Neo2-PFISR motherboard (BIOS ver. 3.8)
    2x512MB OCZ PC3700 Gold Edition Rev 3 Dual Channel Enhanced Latency DDR @ 466MHz (2-3-3-5)
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    Arctic Cooling VGA Silencer Revision 3
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    Cyber Acoustics CA-4100 4.1 Surround
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    Enermax Noisetaker EG475P 470W PSU(+3.3V = 34A, +5V = 40A, +12V = 33A)
    Ultra Dragon ATX Mid-Tower Case
    Windows XP Pro SP2

    Hi.  I will try to help with some of your questions.  Its easy but time consuming to move/copy files from one hard drive to another.  Just drag the files/folders from one drive to the other one.  That moves them.  To copy them Select them and the select copy then go to the other drive and select paste.  With two hard drives its best to set them up as one for system files and apps (your c drive) and one for storage (your D drive).  Your optical drives then become e and f.  If your case you would leave your current drive as C and the new drive would become your d storage drive.  Moving your mp3s, vids, etc (i.e, non-system files or not apps), could take some hours, but that is usually no problem because you can do small numbers of files at a time or do it overnight.  By the way you never want to fill up your hard drive, especially your c drive.  Always leave 20+ percent free so you can get quick reading/writing to it.  Mp3's, vids, pix etc play just fine from your stoage drive and your games play great from the c drive.  And you can do both at the same time.
    Masters and slaves have the same performance but that only applies to IDE drives.  There is no master/slave designation for SATA drives.
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    When you are about ready to install come back to the forum with specific details of what you want to install and someone will be happy to talk you through the process.
    Good luck!

  • Mac Pro Compatibility With Older SATA Drives And DVI Connectors

    I soon plan to replace my 5 year old G5 with a new Mac Pro and need two questions answered so that I will know what options i have for the transfer of older data and apps. The Apple web site for the Mac Pro includes the following paragraph which gives me reason for concern:
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    Phil Rogers
    --

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  • Possible to put two or more 3.5 SATA drives in optical bay of early 2008 mac pro?

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    Message was edited by: flommer

    Hi flommer,
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