Hard Disk & DVD Drive on same IDE Channel.

[Raziaar]

I just wanted to throw this out to anybody who is not aware. I wasn't aware until recently, and usually I consider myself computer savvy.

However, recently I noticed that my hard drive and DVD drive were on the same IDE Channel, HD as master, DVD as slave.

This is a no no, because doing so apparently limits your HDD data rate to the maximum of your DVD drive, which won't be anywhere as fast as your HDD supports.

So I went ahead and separated mine properly, and I encourage you guys to do the same if you have this faulty setup. :thumbs:

 

[CyberPitz]

Yeah, most people find this out the hard way, after lots of cussing and moaning.

 

[Asus]

Yeah, not a good idea to share IDE channels if you want performance. hehe
Get SATA!

The DVD drive won't make the IDE cable run at a slower speed. Each channel uses their own timings. But when they are both in use performance will TANK. Like to 10mb/s. But it's because they are sharing 1 controller, not because a cable speed is set lower on the hard drive.

There was an old issue where they did lock speeds but that was long ago.

Although sometimes windows will dock your hard drive operating mode from UltraDMA to a PIO mode if there is an issue. And after you are up and running fine windows will still have the drive in the slower mode.

 

[Raziaar]

My hard drive still acts like its really slow lately, though I think its probably because I need more RAM.

 

[nutcrackr]

my main hdd is on sata so no probs, backup is on ide with my old drive

 

[Raziaar]

Well I don't have your fancy SATA technologies!

 

[nutcrackr]

I got my sata technologics at a car boot sale, it plugs right into my usb drive and gives me 40% framerate improvement

 

[The Brick]

Hmm never really knew this. I do have my primary hdd on IDE along with my dvd drive, but I never have a disc in it so I haven't noticed a thing. My storage drives are sata2.