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[kess]

 ? ?

I have read the many messages about PIO DMA etc.

I am not a computer expert by any means, but here is my story after spending much of my day at work reading posts from the site  

I just installed a new 120gig HD last week.  I moved all of my music to this new drive, and the lag problem began.  I have my second drive installed to the same ide slot as my CD drive (the secondary channel).  I have no choice because of the distance between where the 2 Hard Drives are located.  I have a very small tower that is not friendly to upgrades.
 
Anyway, I see that although I have use 'DMA when available', the drive is always on PIO.  In addition the CD ROM drive which is on the Secondary IDE is on DMA!!  I have gone into the BIOS to check around, but no luck.  

Right now my computer is set up with the original HD on the Primary IDE (master), and the CD Drive and NEW Hard Drive (Slave) on the secondary drive.  

Does anyone have any idea how I can deal with the hiccup problem?  Please explain in as basic computer-speak as possible.  Thanks in advance for any help.  I have learned so much by reading these boards and LOVE MC!  I want to continue to use it on this computer until I can upgrade to a new one.

-David

[phelt]

Please make sure that I understand:
Your CD drive and your new HD are on the same cable, and in the BIOS or Windows Device Manager the new HD is identified as the slave?

What version of Windows are you using? This could affect the advice you're given, like using the device manager to update the driver for the drive....

I would make the HD the master on that channel. I would also make sure that I used jumpers and not "cable-select" to assign master and slave for each device. I'm not saying that would fix it, just that it would be my preference.

<Somebody help me out with an explanation of jumpers, please.>

[kess]

Phelt,
  Thanks for such a quick reply!  I am running Windows XP.  That is correct, my new HD and my CD Rom Drive are on the same cable, and the Windows device manager has it identified as a slave.  Also, in the BIOS this drive does not even show up, althout it does in Device Manager.  

I understand what the jumpers are, and can certainly configure the drive as a master.  Will that automatcially make the CD Rom drive a slave?  Thanks!

[Robert Taylor]

I would definately recommend keeping your two hard drives on the same IDE interface (buy another (longer??) cable if need be.

So your existing HDD is Primary IDE/Master, your new HDD is Primary/Slave, and your CD is Secondary/Master. That's what I'd do...

Found this on some performance related website:
---
Hard Disk and ATAPI Device Channel Sharing:
There are several reasons why optical drives (or other ATAPI devices) should not be shared on the same channel as a fast hard disk. ATAPI allows the use of the same physical channels as IDE/ATA, but it is not the same protocol; ATAPI uses a much more complicated command structure. Opticals are also generally much slower devices than hard disks, so they can slow a hard disk down when sharing a channel. Finally, some ATAPI devices cannot deal with DMA bus mastering drivers, and will cause a problem if you try to enable bus mastering for a hard disk on a channel they are using.
---

[kess]

If I buy a longer cable (is this possible??) and unplug my old HD and New one, and put them on the same cable, will I lose any data?  Can a beginner do this by himself?  I have been inside the computer, and can see what to do, but it will be the first time I try this and dont' want to lose my whole comptuer!

Does anyone esle have any other solutions?  Thanks!

[phelt]

You should look for jumpers on the CD drive as well. Hopefully the manufacturer was kind enough to put a little jumper map on it showing how to set it to slave.

It's disconcerting that your BIOS does not see the drive. You should look through the BIOS options to see if it has "hard-drive auto-detect" or a similarly named feature. My guess is that unless the BIOS properly recognizes the drive and its capabilities (like Ultra ATA, DMA mode, etc) Windows will continue to address it in PIO mode.

Before you do any auto-detection, you might want to note a series of numbers on the drive. They usually are accompanied by the words 'heads', 'sectors', 'cylinders' and so forth. If thy're not on the drive you should look them up on the drive maker's website. Jot them down on paper and keep handy. Then run the auto-detect in the BIOS. You want to make sure that if the drive is detected, the BIOS agrees with the numbers you have written down. If so, accept the settings, save the changes, reboot, and contemplate whether technology is really making life better during the anxious moments while the machine reboots  

[scott_r]

If I buy a longer cable (is this possible??) and unplug my old HD and New one, and put them on the same cable, will I lose any data?  Can a beginner do this by himself?  I have been inside the computer, and can see what to do, but it will be the first time I try this and dont' want to lose my whole comptue

Here's a hint for not losing all your data when you unplug your harddrive: Make sure the computer isn't running.

Don't bother with an anti-static wrist-strap - they're just gimmicky. Just leave the computer "plugged in" to the mains, but turn it off (at the mains). This will leave your computer's chassis grounded, but no current will be flowing through the PSU.. Before touching anything inside your computer (and periodically while inside), just touch a peice of the metal casing on the power supply. This will discharge any static build up.
Apart from that you've got nothing to worry about.  Make sure both harddrives have their jumpers set to "Cable Select", sometimes marked as "CS". Plug your master into the end of the cable and your slave into the middle of the cable and you'll be away laughing. Or you can manually set master/slave. All depends on the BIOS.
You could also try moving the harddrives closer together in the case, so you dont need to buy a new cable. Just remember to give them a bit of breathing space.
Also, take note of Lunchmeat's advice. This is probably a major factor.

Scott.

[kess]

Thanks for your help.  Can someone else verify that it is highly unlikely I will lose any data by unpluging my main HD (obviously when the power is off).  

I am going to Compusa today to get longer cables.  Unfortunately my tower is very small.  HP didn't want too many upgrades, but if I can squeeze my hands, I think I can make this happen.  Keep your fingers crossed.  

[Marko]

Kess, follow the most excellent advice you've received above and you'll be fine. Disconnecting a HD will not cause any data loss. The worst that can happen here is that you get your jumper settings wrong, and if that happens, either the PC won't boot, or it will, but you'll be missing drives from "My Computer". You still shouldn't lose data, just fix the jumpers and all will be well.

Be sure you have jumper maps for all your drives, (the HD's will more than likely have these on the drives themselves, but not such a "given" with optical drives), print this thread off, power down and do the job.

Have fun!!