My Toshiba 12x DVD Just Arrived.. Now WHAT???? ** confused **

[CuriousAndy]

I currently have 4 IDE devices (excluding Floppy)

1. Maxtor ATA100 7200rpm 40gig
2. Quantum Fireball 5200rpm 4gig
3. 32x HP CDrom
4. The new Toshiba 12x DVD Rom

How should I combo them in IDE cabling? (Primary/Secondary & Master/Slave) Is there a performance difference depending on how I cable them?

My current setup is:

Primary IDE: 1 master, 2 slave (both HDDs)
Secondary IDE: 3 master, free slave (before DVD that's why)

I heard that I should separate HDDs on diff. IDEs because having both drives on One clogs up the IDE bandwidth. Is this true? Does Primary get better performance? and within the same channel, does Master get better performance vs Slave? Someone explain this whole thing for me?

How should I set it up? I'm thinking this:

Primary IDE: 1 (Maxtor 40gig) master, 3 (HP 32x CDRom) slave
Secondary IDE: 4 (12x DVD) master, 2 (4 gig HD) slave

That way, HDs are separated to 2 channels, and DVD gets the Master on Secondary.. Can Someone clarify all this????

Thanks

~mOo

 

[Renob]

I would put the maxtor as master and the quantum as slave on Primary IDE
and the cd rom as master and the dvd as slave on the secondary
thats how I run my system my system is not the same but you will be fine.

 

[CuriousAndy]

But should't I keep the HDDs separate? Also why CDrom gets Master? Why not the DVD??

Most importantly someone answer this friggin Q I've been asking:

Does Primary get better performance? and within the same channel, does Master get better performance vs Slave? Someone explain this whole thing for me?

~mOo

 

[Sugadaddy]

The primary channel doesn't get better performance, neither does the master compared to slave. However, only one device per channel can be accessed at a certain time. It's also recommended to leave your hard drive with the OS to the primary slave for bootup reasons.

If you do a lot of HD to HD transfers, I'd do this:
Primary: master:maxtor HD slave:CD-rom
Secondary: master: DVD slave: Quantum HD


If you don't do too many transfers between HD:
Primary: master: maxtor HD slave: Quantum HD
Secondary: Master: DVD slave:Cd-rom

 

[CuriousAndy]

that's what i thought.. I guess I'll just keep both HDDs on same channel..

any other inputs?

~mOo

 

[nnnyyy]

Won't the Harddrive only run at ATA33 since its on the same channel as the CD rom?

 

[CuriousAndy]

I don't know.. you tell me..

I also heard that IDE channel can only access one device at a time is not true now. If all drives have DMA enabled, that's no longer the case..

I don't even know.. BRB..

~mOo

 

[purplecow]

gotmilk,

I'm pretty sure you're on the right track and have the right ideas, you should have nothing to worry about. If you have DMA enabled on all the drives and none of them mind, it should all be good. I would keep the hard drives together and the CD/DVD together.

 

[rbV5]

<< Won't the Harddrive only run at ATA33 since its on the same channel as the CD rom >>



No, they will run at their respective transfer mode.

 

[Duvie]

I agree with sugardaddy on the configuration as being the most optimal...

&quot;Won't the Harddrive only run at ATA33 since its on the same channel as the CD rom? &quot;

Awhile back this was true, but not anymore...Each is detected independently and can run at different speeds on same cable...however together they cannot exceed the rated ide channel rate, but since ata100's rarekly do rates much above ata 33 rates you should never run into this anyways...

 

[sleepdragon]

why not just take out the slow and aging quantum 4gb??
you should have enough space with that maxtot 40gb!?

anyway..i would put maxtor alone on primary as master,
then put dvd-rom as secondary master, with cdrw as secondary salve..

 

[LarryJoe]

Primary M - Maxtor
Primary S - Quantum (by I agree, why not just bag it, really 4GB??)
Secondary M - DVD
Secondary S - CD

Put the faster reader of the DVD/CD as the master. Make sure you can enable DMA for both - i.e. not gray boxes or unchecked reboots. If all works, you are good to go.

Also, pay no mind to the slower device and single access claims and hoopla. That is very old and out dated info. You pretty much can't go wrong.

LJ

 

[CuriousAndy]

<< why not just take out the slow and aging quantum 4gb?? >>



Because I don't have a CDburner and when I want to do a clean format, I can very easily back up 4 gigs of data to the Quantum drive and format the 40gig..

Very convienient, don't you think? it's not hurting the 40gig's speed so why bother taking it out?

~mOo

 

[nnnyyy]

Why not just make a partition from the 40 gig?

 

[nortexoid]

if u're running the roms off an ATA33 cable, then the hdd will run at ATA33..

i'd recommend running the the hdds on separate channels, with the non-OS as a secondary slave and the dvd-rom as a secondary master (OS drive primary master and cd-rom primary slave)...

i run mine in a similar fashion (with cdrw as secondary master) and all works flawlessly...

 

[NelsonMuntz]

I agree with Sugadaddy. I would probably run the hard drives on separate IDE channels to increase speed of HD to HD transfers. Also I would put the DVD on the secondary master becaus it would be the one I would use most often and that would allow faster transfers to the primary HD. sometimes the issues have more to do with how the cabling in your computer allows you to hook it up with the space between the drives often being an issue. Have fun!!