How many CD/DVD drives on motherboard with 1 ATA connection?

[red_onion]

My new ASUS M2R32-MVP AM2 AMD 580X CrossFire ATX AMD Motherboard should be arriving today. Something tells me I should have asked this before ordering but can I put two DVD/CD drives on that motherboard? I understand that it only has one ATA connection; is there a splitter or something like that I can use to support multiple drives?

Thanks as always for any insight!

 

[runswindows95]

One master and one slave, so a total of two.

 

[firemist]

Each PATA connection will support two devices. Two CD/DVD PATA devices will work as long as they are set up master/slave or cable select. The standard cable has three connectors on it, one for the motherboard and two for devices.
You can also use SATA CD/DVD drives and avoid the PATA connection altogether.

 

[red_onion]

Thanks both. I'm repurposing older drives in a new machine, although I'll certainly replace with SATA drives at some point (the mobo has 4 SATA connections). Now that you mention it, I do remember setting them up as master/slave; it's just been awhile. I'm sure I'd have cracked open my old case tonight to transfer the drives and thought, "Oh yeah, that's how that works." Thanks again.