Serial HD on system with no Serial connections?

I need more storage on my system. I only have parallel connections
for harddrives. I have available PCI slots (5V 32-Bit). I have XP
SP2.

I'd rather get something that I can use when I upgrade in a few years
so it doesn't look like getting a parallel HD would be worth while so
I'm looking at Serial.

What's the best way to do this? I heard SP2 can handle pretty much
any HD size? I'm looking at 320 GB. Any size limitations or is that
controlled via the card type or drivers?

Can any 5V PCI card be plugged into my 5V 32-bit slot, even the 64-bit
PCI cards? Seems kind of strange to have an extra piece of the card
hanging off the edge.

I found a device online to go from serial to parallel but not the
other way around. Is that possible and/or cheaper than a card?

I'm having a heck of a time finding any information on this kind of
setup. Used to be that a 5-year-old computer wasn't useful but this
thing is still going strong. My problems probably come from the fact
that 'serial' is a common description of several types of
interfaces...

Thanks for any help!

Mycroft_IV wrote:

I need more storage on my system. I only have parallel connections
for harddrives. I have available PCI slots (5V 32-Bit). I have XP SP2.

I'd rather get something that I can use when I upgrade in a few years
so it doesn't look like getting a parallel HD would be worth while so
I'm looking at Serial.

Yes, that makes a lot of sense given that there are plenty of current
motherboards that only have a single parallel port and you normally have
one optical drive on that already. They have plenty of free serial ports.

What's the best way to do this?

Just get a PCI card that can handle the serial hard drives, SATA format.

I heard SP2 can handle pretty much any HD size?

Correct, tho its also limited by the motherboard bios if you want to boot from it.

I'm looking at 320 GB. Any size limitations

Nope.

or is that controlled via the card type or drivers?

Yes.

Can any 5V PCI card be plugged into my 5V 32-bit slot,
even the 64-bit PCI cards? Seems kind of strange to
have an extra piece of the card hanging off the edge.

You dont need a 64 bit PCI card for serial hard drives.

I found a device online to go from serial to parallel
but not the other way around. Is that possible

Yes.

and/or cheaper than a card?

For the first drive it can be.

I'm having a heck of a time finding any information on this kind of
setup. Used to be that a 5-year-old computer wasn't useful but this
thing is still going strong. My problems probably come from the fact
that 'serial' is a common description of several types of interfaces...

Yeah, its better to use the SATA acronym for serial hard drives.

Previously Mycroft_IV wrote:
I need more storage on my system. I only have parallel connections
for harddrives. I have available PCI slots (5V 32-Bit). I have XP
SP2.

I'd rather get something that I can use when I upgrade in a few years
so it doesn't look like getting a parallel HD would be worth while so
I'm looking at Serial.

What's the best way to do this? I heard SP2 can handle pretty much
any HD size? I'm looking at 320 GB. Any size limitations or is that
controlled via the card type or drivers?

Can any 5V PCI card be plugged into my 5V 32-bit slot, even the 64-bit
PCI cards? Seems kind of strange to have an extra piece of the card
hanging off the edge.

Yes, but that is ok. The standard allows it and the mainboards have no
high components in the place the unused connector goes. I think, that
PCI is generally 3.3V though these days and there is a 2/5V server
variant. Still, if you can plug it in without force, it should be fine
for PCI. (Side note: Does not work for AGP...).

I found a device online to go from serial to parallel but not the
other way around. Is that possible and/or cheaper than a card?

So-so. I found a lot of compatibility problems with several different of
these. I would advise getting a controller card. I have made good
experience with the non-RAID SATA cards from Promise.

I'm having a heck of a time finding any information on this kind of
setup. Used to be that a 5-year-old computer wasn't useful but this
thing is still going strong. My problems probably come from the fact
that 'serial' is a common description of several types of
interfaces...

Try ''SATA''.

Arno

Thanks everyone. I was originally confused because from the pictures
the 64-bit card looked just like the 32-bit (scale issue). Not to
mention most of the boxes say Serial or Parallel and not SATA.

But I got a card and the harddrive and its now working (400 GB).
Didn't have to do anything special, it just installed everything
properly.

Thanks!