>>I have a 2x CD-ROM drive.  Would I have any problems if I installed a
>>24x or 32x IDE CD-ROM drive?  Would I need to upgrade my BIOS?
<big snip>
>just connect the controller connection on the new drive to
>your IDE ribbon cable with your hard drive...  (if your system has
>dual connections for IDE, secondary connector, connect the new
>drive there to keep it from slowing down your hard drive).

As I understand it, this "slowing down your hard drive" was because
an IDE channel works in the fastest IDE mode common to both drives
 - hence at the speed of the slower of the master/slave pair.

In the good old days, (a few months ago :-), this would have meant
the HD being throttled back to the slow mode of the CD-ROM.

So now it may be a dying issue - indeed, if your new CD-ROM
drive supports the latest modes up to Ultra-DMA, your old HD
may be holding back your CD-ROM performance - which probably
isn't a problem.

Len Warner <[log in to unmask]> WWW Pager http://wwp.mirabilis.com/10120933