> >Another reason why you would want to do that is the IDE > >channels only operate as fast as the slowest device on that > >channel. By having the old slower HD with the fast new HD you > >limit the speed to the old HD's, and negate any faster speed on the > >new one. > >Dale Laluk / [log in to unmask] > > This had validity a very long time ago when IDE devices and their on board > controllers were new technology. However this has not been true for many > many years. Modern IDE controllers ...since Win95 and earlier....have no > problem making distinctions between IDE mode types. and with a modern > controller you can mix any IDE devices on a channel without regard for mode > type or age of the device. > Check out http://www.tomshardware.com/guides/storage/hdd-01.html for a small explanation of why you still would want them on seperate channels.(I mean a slow device and a fast device) "...On one EIDE channel, the 2 devices have to take turns controlling the bus. If there is a harddisk and a CD-ROM on the same channel, the harddisk has to wait until a request to the CD- ROM has finished. Because CD-ROM's are relatively slow, there is a degradation of performance. That's why everbody tells you to connect the CD-ROM to the secondary channel and your harddisk to the primary. The primary and secondary channels work more or less independently of one another (it's a matter of the EIDE controller chip). "... Dale Laluk / [log in to unmask] P.O. Box 308 Hudson's Hope, B.C. V0C 1V0 250-783-9921 PCBUILD maintains hundreds of useful files for download visit our download web page at: http://nospin.com/pc/files.html