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[TimB]

OK, I've just added a WD 160gigger to my computer and its working great but I'm looking for ideas on how I should configure this monster.

Currently I have:

40 gig (IBM 7200rpm) (C: ) off the motherboard as master

160 gig (WD 7200 rpm) (D: ) off a Ultra100 card (leaving one connector free on the card) as Cable Select

DVD (E: ) off the motherboard as master
CDR (F: ) off the motherboard as the slave

I've got another CDR that I'd like to put on the Ultra100 card too, can I mix drive types?  I've got about 35 gig of MP3's on the C: drive and I'm now ripping to the D: drive.

Also is this the best setup performance-wise?

Thanks!

-=Tim=-

[John Gateley]

Hi Tim,

I am not a hardware expert , but you should be able to mix drive types.
For speed, set it up so that data transfers don't use the same cable.

j

[phelt]

Generally it's good to keep HD's separated (on different controllers) from optical and other devices, so your current setup seems good. Adding a CDR to your Ultra100 card might impact D: drive performance if the card uses a single controller for both connectors. I wouldn't recommend ripping from and saving to devices trying to use the same controller.

Frankly, I doubt there would be much of a problem, if any. Most of my knowledge about device chains and HW segregation comes from the bad old days. Most people are unlikely to saturate an Ultra100 channel. I would vote for manually setting device parameters (ie, not cable-select) and for making sure that DMA is enabled for all devices.

[TimB]

Thanks for the feedback Mr G!

I would vote for manually setting device parameters (ie, not cable-select) and for making sure that DMA is enabled for all devices.

Thanks for the feedback, I'll change the cable-select option (haven't fully buttoned up the CPU anyway yet  ) however its an AMD system and because of that I understand I can't enable DMA.

-=Tim=-

[KingSparta]

>> can I mix drive types?
well since your using An ATA100 card and you installed Bios software to get it to see the full 160gigs of the drive (you should be using a ATA133 Controler For The 160gig Drive).

the problem may come in if other drives require you to load there BIOS or have installed them in the past.

if you hook it all up and it works fine, but if you ever buy another drive over 137gigs you need to buy a drive from the same company and install the BIOS

It would not be Wise to Install A Maxtor, Install Maxtor BIOS, and Then Buy A WD Drive And Install There BIOS.

[nila]

Whats that about AMD and not enabling DMA?

I have an AMD system and I have DMA enabled?
Why is this bad?

[RemyJ]

>> can I mix drive types?
well since your using An ATA100 card and you installed Bios software to get it to see the full 160gigs of the drive (you should be using a ATA133 Controler For The 160gig Drive).

the problem may come in if other drives require you to load there BIOS or have installed them in the past.

if you hook it all up and it works fine, but if you ever buy another drive over 137gigs you need to buy a drive from the same company and install the BIOS

It would not be Wise to Install A Maxtor, Install Maxtor BIOS, and Then Buy A WD Drive And Install There BIOS.

NEVER use "bios" or utilities that come with drives like Lifeguard or MaxBlast if you're running NT/2000/XP.  You're just asking for trouble.

The ATA/100 Controllers that are shipping with the >137g drives are already flashed and ready for the drives and will take any brand.  I've got mixes of Maxtors and WDs on mine with no problems.  

Western Digital doesn't make any ATA/133 drives so an ATA/133 controller isn't going to matter.

[TimB]

Whats that about AMD and not enabling DMA?

I have an AMD system and I have DMA enabled?
Why is this bad?

When I first got a CDR drive it told me to enable DMA, I searched everywhere for the setting but couldn't find it.  Later on I read something that said that AMD self-configured and that's why I couldn't find a DMA setting.

Hey, I could be wrong.  It has happened before.

-=Tim=-

[KingSparta]

>> NEVER use "bios" or utilities that come
>> with drives like Lifeguard or MaxBlast
Or windows Drive Compression, just get a bigger drive.

>> The ATA/100 Controllers that are shipping with
>> the 137g drives are already flashed and ready
I did not know that, I read an artical that ATA100 Drives could not handle large drives without Drive BIOS being installed.

[RemyJ]

Nothing in the 100 vs 133 technology makes a difference related to large drives.  It's the 48bit sector addressing that enables addressing drives larger than 137gb.   The earlier 100's definitely needed a controller BIOS update but the later ones shipping with the large drives had the updated BIOS.  

I believe both Silicon Image and Promise shipped even their earliest 133's with the 48bit addressing enabled.  Just a market timing thing.

[KingSparta]

well thanks for the info, I feel better now about getting an ATA100 IDE in a few months on my new computer.

[RemyJ]

Don't let 100 vs 133 influence a buying decision.  The performance gain is just "noise" in the grand scheme of things especially when you consider that 132MB/Sec is the limit of the PCI bus in most desktop computers.  

[TimB]

I wasn't sure on the 133 vs 100 thing until I saw that JimH had bought the new WD 200 gigger with ATA100.

Jim seems like an intelligent guy so I figured that I was OK.

Scarey eh?

-=Tim=-

[NoCodeUK]

Tim,

Are you using XP?  Cos DMA is a bugger to find in XP as it is not configured per drive like windows 9x but on the ide channel itself.  If you go into device manager and select the ide controllers you can turn it on and off...  I have an Athlon and DMA is activated for all drives...

Adam

[TimB]

Tim,

Are you using XP?  Cos DMA is a bugger to find in XP as it is not configured per drive like windows 9x but on the ide channel itself.  If you go into device manager and select the ide controllers you can turn it on and off...  I have an Athlon and DMA is activated for all drives...

Adam

Hi and thanks from a fellow Brit.

No, I'm using Win98SE on that machine.

-=Tim=-

[NoCodeUK]

Cool.  Wherabouts in Britain??

Adam

[TimB]

Cool.  Wherabouts in Britain??

Adam

Well, expat Brit and co-citizen.

I live just outside Washington, DC.

-=Tim=-

[NoCodeUK]

Cool.  Id quite like to move to the states eventually but I need to earn me some decent cash first!!!

Adam