Desktop A1200 + 4 way IDE Interface

[Crestfallen]

I really need a cd rom drive for my amiga and i was wondering if the 4 way buffered IDE interface would work. It can be seen here
IDE Interface

Will the interface card fit inside the standard A1200 desktop case. I realise i would need to have the IDE ribbon cables sticking out the back of the amiga, possibly having to cut the casing to allow the cables to exit the case. These would then be plugged into the CD drive.

Also, would my 2.5" HDD work if i plugged it into the interface card. It is currently plugged into the built in IDE port on the A1200 motherboard and the HDD sits in it's little caddy.  Would i have to get a 3.5" HDD and use it externally?

Regards

[Jaruzel]

This is an update of the 4-way I have in my A1200D, it has 2 44 pin headers, and 2 40 pin headers.

One of the 44 pin headers takes the ide cable from the Amiga motherboard, the other 44 pin header takes an ide cable to your existing 2.5" HDD. (You'll need another 44 pin Ide cable)

That leaves you 2 40 pin headers for standard IDE cables to 3.5" HDDs and normal CD-ROMs.

The card itself takes power from the power lines of the 44 pin ide cable on the Amiga motherboard.

-Jar.

[amigamad]

Yes it would work one of the main reasons to get one is to be able to connect your cd rom drive i had one of these in an a1200 that i gave away. :-)

[Vincent]

It should fit quite easily - I have one that's the same width, but square (the first IDEfix 4-way buffers) and that fitted in fine no problems.

[xyth]

I own one of these (Elbox) 4xEIDE interfaces and use it in my untowered A1200.  You can happily retain your 2.5" HD though I found I had to have mine only half sitting in the cradle as otherwise ther's not enough room for the cable.  There's plenty of space to this in the A1200 though, especially if you remove the small piece of shielding there.

I have a CD drive and Zip drive strung out the side.  I found the best way to modify the case was just to file away the 'lip' on the bottom half of the A1200 casing, and thus the IDE cable can emerge from the join between the top and bottom halves of the casing.  Looks nice and tidy and best of all there's no obvious gaping holes left behind should you decide to remove at a later date.

Connect your 2.5" HD to the Primary Master Port (40 pin), and a standard IDE cable to the Secondary Master Port (44 pin).  As IDE cables can connect two devices (Master and Slave) this means you can hook up a CD Rom drive and something else without having open up the A1200 to do it.

The only issue you will have is how to get power to whatever drives you use on this.  Finding IDE/Atapi CD drives with their own power supply is not easy.  I managed to find an old 5 1/4" case that came with it's own power supply, which I put my CD Rom in.

The Elbox 4xEIDE'99 interface is worth getting as it should come packaged with Allegro CDFS which is a wickedly fast CD filesystem, much faster than any those that come with any with AmigaOS3.x.