three hds? is this possible?

[Doug Sutherland]

This issue of IDE bus slowing to the speed of lowest drive in the chain is
no
longer the case on most motherboards due to independent device timing.
If the IDE chipset supports independent device timing, then the hard drive
will operate at a different speed. So basically, putting a CD or DVD on the
same chain as a high speed hard drive is only a problem on very old mobo
that don't support independent device timing. On all modern chipsets this
is no longer a problem, so I suppose the question is how modern is the IDE
chipset in question. If you're not sure if the chipset supports independent
device timing, pair the CD with the slowest drive of the lot, and use that
slowest drive for stuff like backups or other files that will not be
accessed
as frequently. Also, make sure your system is running at the fastest DMA
mode possible for the drives, and there are some DMA mode test progs
that can help you determine if you're achieving independent device timing.

Glenn said:
A hard drive in line with the CD/DVD drive will operate mighty slow,
since the slower drive determines the speed of the drives in the chain,