Hi all,

I'm about to purchase a CD-R/RW and wanted a little clarification and
information.  First, while I don't exclude the possibility of wanting to
make direct CD-ROM to CD-R burns (the time will surely come), my main focus
in this purchase is for a reliable backup and archive removable media
solution.  This would mean that I'll primarily use it for backing up
e-mail, saved games, finance files, documents and the like on a regular
basis and also archiving multimedia files like mp3's and pictures on a less
regular basis.

I provide this information because this means that my PRIMARY use will be
to transfer files between hard drives and CD-R/RW rather than from CD-ROM
to CD-R/RW. (But I would like both to work reliably)

While researching the issues surrounding CD re-writable technology an old
archived PC-Build post led me to an article that claimed the following:

<From: http://www.zdnet.com/pcmag/features/cd-rw/intro3.html>
To minimize the possibility of buffer underruns, you should not connect the
recorder to the same IDE-channel as your intended source; IDE is
notoriously poor at multitasking on a single channel. Usually, the hard
disk is connected to the primary IDE channel and the CD-ROM drive is hooked
to the secondary IDE channel.

My questions are these.

Given my Abit BH6 motherboard has 2 EIDE controllers on-board, I need to
use all available positions with 2 Hard Drives, and both the CD-ROM and
CD/RW.  On which channels should I position each drive to address a primary
concern of reliability and a secondary concern of speed?

Is the above statement incorrect or outdated? The article was written
almost 2 years ago and I've found conflicting opinions and information
during my research so now I'm confused.

Cost is a consideration, but, I'd rather spend more money to buy a quality
product than less money to buy a door stop.  Does anyone see the need to
invest in a SCSI solution (plus an add on SCSI card) or is EIDE going to be
reliable enough for my needs under Windows98?

Relevant System Specs:

Celeron 300A O/c'd to 450MHz on an Abit BH6
128 MB PC100
8.4 G WD 5400 rpm UMDA33 drive
Standard HI-Val EIDE 40X CD-ROM
Windows98 (Although smoething that works under Linux is a bonus)

Adding on additional hard drive X GB at 7200 rpm ATA/66 (Choked back to
ATA/33 I guess)

TIA,

Bill Nussbaumer

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