It doesn't matter how many adapters you use the data has to go through the sata controllers. Personally I'd say hook the hard drives up to the ide controllers and the cd drives up through sata. Then just make sure you install all your chipset drivers for the motherboard.
xp does not come with drivers for sata controllers. It does come with drivers for ide controllers. Hence why they don't work through sata controllers. Once you install all the motherboard drivers you'll be able to work through the sata controllers just fine (hence you can use the adapters).
The reason raid seems to get somewhere is because you're just adding one more step before windows. You're really not any closer to booting xp though. Raid is when you take multiple drives and make them one virtual hard drive (in other words windows only sees one drive instead of 2, 3, or more. Raid is not at all what you want here!
-Kevin