In the original version of IDE, both devices on the channel would run at
the PIO mode (transfer speed) of the slower device.  Since CD-ROM devices
typically have/need much less throughput than hard drives, putting the two
together would slow things down.
  Two things happened.  Manufacturers started equipping CD-ROM devices to
support IDE transfer speeds much higher than they could actually use -- and
IDE evolved into EIDE which could run the two devices on a channel at
different speeds.
  The original advice became obsolete, but continued to be spread.

  It's still true that only one of the devices on a channel can be
transferring data at any given moment.  So my recommendation is to put the
hard drives as masters on the separate channels, so far as possible, and
fill CD-ROM/DVD drives into the slave spots.  Distributing the I/O load this
way should, on average, provide the best performance.

David Gillett


On 9 Jun 2004 at 0:10, Al Thompson wrote:

> Is there a preferred, or optimal way of setting up devices on the IDE channels?
>
> I have my bro's unit here, and I have his two Maxtor hdd's on IDE 1, and I'm using IDE 2 for his cd and dvd(?).
>
> IDE 1
> 40 GB Maxtor  Primary Master
> 80 GB Maxtor Primary Slave
>
> IDE 2
> Sony CRX160E CD-R/RW Primary Master
> Creative 52x CD-rom Primary Slave
>
> Both hdd's on IDE 1 are detected every time during POST.
> However, the two on IDE 2 are sometimes detected, but not usually (usually 'none') and currently don't show in My
> Computer at all. (Creative seems ok, but Sony tray won't open)
>
> There's mention of No Smart drivers (Belarc Advisor)
> An "Array not defined" error during post
> And PCI RAID controller not installed (device manager)
>
> Thanks for any thoughts
>
> Al Thompson
>
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