Question about IDE Hardrives and Performance

[Sirngweo]

Scenario:
I have two ATA/100 IDE Hard Drives, one DVD drive and one CD-R/CD-RW drive. From a performance perspective, my thoughts are to place one HD and the DVD drive on the Primary IDE (with the HD as Master) and the other HD along with the CD-R/CD-RW drive on the secondary IDE (with the HD as master).

Question.
Would the above scenario provide the best performance setup or should I just place both HD's on the Primary IDE and both CD drives on the Secondary IDE?

Thanks,
Sirngweo.

 

[Booster]

Place both HDs on the primary channel. When you have a CD drive hooked to the same channel as the HD, it is believed to decrease the bandwidth for the HD, diminish performance. Maybe just a little bit, but it's noticeable. Thus, two IDE drives on the primary channel are more likely to provide maximum performance, IMO.

 

[thorin]

"Place both HDs on the primary channel. When you have a CD drive hooked to the same channel as the HD, it is believed to decrease the bandwidth for the HD, diminish performance. Maybe just a little bit, but it's noticeable. Thus, two IDE drives on the primary channel are more likely to provide maximum performance, IMO. "

This is a common misperception, current montherboards/controllers support independant device timing so you can mix ATA33 drives (CDROM/DVDROM) and ATA66/100/133 drives on the same channel with no draw backs to max transfer rates.

Assuming you will normally be copying from the DVD drive (as your main daily use CDROM drive) to the primary hd (installs game playing etc...) then you should go with:

Primary Master: Primary HD
Primary Slave: CDRW
Secondary Master: Secondary (backup) HD
Secondary Slave: DVDROM

That way when you copy between your two HDs they aren't fighting for the same channel, and when you're using your primary hd you aren't fighting for the channel with your primary CDROM (DVDROM). (Remember only one drive can access a channel at a time).

Thorin

PS > The above also assumes that you will normally burn from the secondary (backup) HD

 

[Dormant]

Listen to Thorin he is correct.

 

[Sirngweo]

All:
Thanks for the info.

Sirngweo.
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<< "Place both HDs on the primary channel. When you have a CD drive hooked to the same channel as the HD, it is believed to decrease the bandwidth for the HD, diminish performance. Maybe just a little bit, but it's noticeable. Thus, two IDE drives on the primary channel are more likely to provide maximum performance, IMO. "

This is a common misperception, current montherboards/controllers support independant device timing so you can mix ATA33 drives (CDROM/DVDROM) and ATA66/100/133 drives on the same channel with no draw backs to max transfer rates.

Assuming you will normally be copying from the DVD drive (as your main daily use CDROM drive) to the primary hd (installs game playing etc...) then you should go with:

Primary Master: Primary HD
Primary Slave: CDRW
Secondary Master: Secondary (backup) HD
Secondary Slave: DVDROM

That way when you copy between your two HDs they aren't fighting for the same channel, and when you're using your primary hd you aren't fighting for the channel with your primary CDROM (DVDROM). (Remember only one drive can access a channel at a time).

Thorin

PS > The above also assumes that you will normally burn from the secondary (backup) HD >>