Best IDE configuration??

[dbal]

Ok, here is the case.
My system consists of 3 IDE Devices (HDD, CDRW, DVD) and I am planning on installing a second hard disk as well.The HDD is PriMaster, the CDRW slave to it and the DVD secondary master. Reason I did this was Nero's warnings about connecting source and destination drive on the same channel during "on the fly" copies which seems (?) to be true since I never had buffer underrun problems like other known friends of mine that had them connected together as master/slave.
Problem is that I think connecting the new HDD as secondary slave not only doesn't makes sense but I 've also heard that when you put 2 IDE devices on the same channel the faster drops to the speed of the slower one (meaning the cd drives of course). Is this true? My benchmarking with Sandra and Seagate's Diagnostic shows not. Anyone knows sth more about?
More or less, please propose a place for the new drive based on your knowledge- PriSlave (both HDDs together to avoid possible speed decrease) or SecMaster (to preserve Nero's on the fly precautions)???

Thanx for all the input!

 

[T3C]

dbal.

Primary channel: Pri HD, Sec HD.
Secondary Channel: CDRW, DVD.

I have set up that same configuration on a few machines with no problems.

_.-TechITguy-._

Pm me if you have any qustions

 

[ProviaFan]

Originally posted by: TechITguy
dbal.

Primary channel: Pri HD, Sec HD.
Secondary Channel: CDRW, DVD.

I have set up that same configuration on a few machines with no problems.

_.-TechITguy-._

Pm me if you have any qustions

I run that configuration right now on my main "workstation" (have been running it for over a year), and have no problems at all.

 

[Zepper]

Buy an IDE controller (see SiliconImage based Syba on dealsonic.com, less than $25. shipped - only uses 1 IRQ) and put each drive on its own channel.
. That is the only way to assure optimum performance from IDE.
.bh.
:moon:

 

[pphysicsguy]

Just don't put the optical drives on the same channel as the hard drives and you'll be fine. Of course, it'll work any way you put it together, it's just that copying from CD to HDD will be slower if you put them on the same channel.

 

[DOSfan]

So let me get this straight:

1) Do not put the optical drives on the same channel, or else you may not be able to "quick" copy CD's/DVD's.
2) Do not put the optical drives on the same channel as the HD, or else you will slow down the Optical -> HD speed.

Aside from an IDE controller, is there any good configuration for 2 Optical and 2 HD?

 

[ProviaFan]

Originally posted by: DOSfan
So let me get this straight:

1) Do not put the optical drives on the same channel, or else you may not be able to "quick" copy CD's/DVD's.
2) Do not put the optical drives on the same channel as the HD, or else you will slow down the Optical -> HD speed.

Aside from an IDE controller, is there any good configuration for 2 Optical and 2 HD?

The best compromise, IMHO, is the HDDs on one channel, and the opticals on the other. If it doesn't work, just switch.

 

[DOSfan]

The best compromise, IMHO, is the HDDs on one channel, and the opticals on the other. If it doesn't work, just switch.

I get that....

I just find it humorous that there are two conflicting schools of thought on this. (Yes, I am aware that there are only 2 basic configuration choices. 24 choices if you want to get really technical. )

 

[EeyoreX]

Just don't put the optical drives on the same channel as the hard drives and you'll be fine. Of course, it'll work any way you put it together, it's just that copying from CD to HDD will be slower if you put them on the same channel.

This is not entirely true. For the most part, in modern machines it simply doesn't apply. Assuming a couple things:

1) You are using an 80 wire IDE cable.
2) You do not have a drive that operates in PIO mode.

If these two conditions are met the drives will operate at their maximum level without affecting the other drives. For example, if you have an ATA66 drive and ATA133 connected to IDE1 with an 80 wire cable, the ATA66 drive will be accessed at its max speed. The ATA133 drive will be accessed at it's max speed as well. Modern ATA arcitecture allows for independant access of the drives on each channel. Check your optical drives, if neither operate in PIO mode, it won't matter how you connect them. Connect any drive that operates in PIO mode to it's own channel, or it will slow both drives down.

\Dan

 

[Zepper]

eey...x,
Only one drive per IDE channel can operate at the same time so same-channel data txfers will be much slower than cross-channel.
. That is the reason that I recommended the purchase of a controller so ALL txfers will be cross-channel!
.bh.
:moon:

 

[dbal]

For the most part, in modern machines it simply doesn't apply. Assuming a couple things:
1) You are using an 80 wire IDE cable.
2) You do not have a drive that operates in PIO mode.
If these two conditions are met

Yep, eeyoreX both conditions are met and your assumption agrees to my benchmarking which shows that on my primary channel where I have the HDD and the CDRW slave, the UATA100 Seagate has an estimated DMA transfer of about 90MB/sec without being affected by the UDMA33 CDRW. I guess I 'll put the new one then as secondary master along with the DVD to preserve my Nero copies that seems to be a true precaution instead.

 

[sswingle]

I have mine set up with two hard drives on one channel and the two opticals on the other channel. The only problem I notice is copying from one HDD to the other is painfully slow. I dont do that very often though, so its not a big deal...

 

[intelbugger]

I don't beleive how anandtech users can complicate a simple issue this far.

The basic answer is this :

What do you do the most ?

Copy from HDD to HDD
Copy from HDD to CDRW
Copy from DVD to CDRW

Whichever one you do the most, the source and dest drives of that operation should best stay on different channels.

Besides, maybe you are using 40 conductor cables on your secondary (a distinct possibility) if so avoid plugging an HDD to it.