Best configuration of drives?

"Al Dykes" wrote in message
...
In article ,
Bob wrote:
On 11 May 2004 11:22:14 -0400, (Al Dykes) wrote:

You can buy a PCI IDE card with 2 channels and put your optical disks
to that.

I thought modern computers came with 2 IDE channels on the mainboard.
That's 4 devices.



yea, but it's not 4 channels, and if you mix a fast and a slow
device on a channel it slows down to the speed of the slower one.

That's false. Each runs at its own speed generally.

"Folkert Rienstra" wrote in message
...

"Bob" wrote in message
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On Tue, 11 May 2004 15:36:20 +0200, "Folkert Rienstra"
wrote:

Actually, it can be problematic when you access the opt. drive
that is on the same cable with the source drive while burning.

Why?

Because it may block the source drive for several seconds, spinning-up
the motor/disk to speed and seeking to the desired data and transfer.

Hmmm... Doesn't sound like a very intelligent way to implement an
optical drive.

Welcome to the wonderful world of IDE.

I would have assumed they could issue a spin-up instruction
and wait for a "ready" interrupt while they do other things.

No such command, I'm afraid (AFAICT).

Holding the IDE channel up while waiting for the disk to spin up is
idiotic.

Well, IDE has known overlapped commands for a while now but it is hardly
implemented by any devices and also needs driver support for it to work.

Don't confuse command queuing and disconnect/reconnect with the spin-up
issue.

"Bob" wrote in message
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On Tue, 11 May 2004 22:42:01 +0200, "Folkert Rienstra"
wrote:

Hmmm... Doesn't sound like a very intelligent way to implement an
optical drive.

Welcome to the wonderful world of IDE.

I would have assumed they could issue a spin-up instruction
and wait for a "ready" interrupt while they do other things.

No such command, I'm afraid (AFAICT).

Holding the IDE channel up while waiting for the disk to spin up is
idiotic.

Well, IDE has known overlapped commands for a while now but it is hardly
implemented by any devices and also needs driver support for it to work.

Even Microsoft did a better job of implementing the floppy drive than
that.

Not that I could ever tellg.

What you have just said explains why optical disk makers insist you
use the master channel and nothing on the slave - they take over the
entire channel. Dumb and dumber.

They do no so insist. Cite a reference.

"Al Dykes" wrote in message
...
In article ,
Folkert Rienstra wrote:

"Al Dykes" wrote in message
...
In article ,
Bob wrote:
On 11 May 2004 11:22:14 -0400, (Al Dykes) wrote:

You can buy a PCI IDE card with 2 channels and put your optical
disks
to that.

I thought modern computers came with 2 IDE channels on the mainboard.
That's 4 devices.



yea, but it's not 4 channels, and if you mix a fast and a slow
device on a channel it slows down to the speed of the slower one.

Obviously not.
When the slow drive has the bus the other drive isn't doing anything,
obviously.

If you put a DMA and a non-DMA capable device on an interface the drivers
dumbs down to the lower one, right ? That's what I'm refering to.

Generally no. There are almost no non-DMA devices around anymore anyway.
If they won't do UDMA then they likely'll do DMA2.

On Wed, 12 May 2004 00:18:19 GMT, "Ron Reaugh"
wrote:

What you have just said explains why optical disk makers insist you
use the master channel and nothing on the slave - they take over the
entire channel. Dumb and dumber.

They do no so insist. Cite a reference.

Here's direct correspondence with Mitsumi tech support:

+++++
The CDR usually works best alone as master on the 2nd IDE port.

If this doesn't help, please call in to technical support for
additional trouble shooting at 800-648-7864.

--

Thank you for contacting Mitsumi Technical Support!

LeAnn
Mitsumi Technical Support

Tech Support Voice (800)648-7864
Tech Support Fax (712)653-3047
Web Site http://www.mitsumi.com
Email
+++++


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Map Of The Vast Right Wing Conspiracy:
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"You can all go to hell, and I will go to Texas."
--David Crockett

"Bob" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 12 May 2004 00:18:19 GMT, "Ron Reaugh"
wrote:

What you have just said explains why optical disk makers insist you
use the master channel and nothing on the slave - they take over the
entire channel. Dumb and dumber.

They do no so insist. Cite a reference.

Here's direct correspondence with Mitsumi tech support:

+++++
The CDR usually works best alone as master on the 2nd IDE port.

That's far short of "insists". That is the appropriate place to attach a
CD[R[W]] in a system with just a single HD.

On Wed, 12 May 2004 03:15:27 GMT, "Ron Reaugh"
wrote:

Here's direct correspondence with Mitsumi tech support:

The CDR usually works best alone as master on the 2nd IDE port.

That's far short of "insists".

Picky, picky. In later correspondence, they insisted I have only their
CDR on the second IDE channel.

That is the appropriate place to attach a
CD[R[W]] in a system with just a single HD.

I had a tape drive attached on the same channel. That was the problem
we were trying to debug - the system would lock up when using the CDR
after having used the tape. I did not have a place for the tape on Ch
0 because I had a Zip drive.

I replaced the tape with a second hard disk which I put on Ch 1 master
and the CDR on the slave, and it all works fine. The tape, it turns
out, had buggy drivers.

--

Map Of The Vast Right Wing Conspiracy:
http://www.freewebs.com/vrwc/

"You can all go to hell, and I will go to Texas."
--David Crockett

"Bob" wrote in message news:40a1973a.422537@news-
The tape, it turns out, had buggy drivers.

Tape is just another word for bug in any case in my opiniong.

On Mon, 10 May 2004 01:47:14 GMT, "Ron Reaugh"
wrote:


So you're gonna pack the HDs next to each other where they'll burn each
other up???

No, my case has space for three HDD's so there is space between the
two. I have a full tower and there is no way I could use your
suggested method. Best way really is to use one channel per device
which you can do with a four port sata setup or 2 IDE and 2 sata. I
could do the latter on this mb but I'm too lazy.

On 11 May 2004 13:12:26 -0400, (Al Dykes) wrote:


yea, but it's not 4 channels, and if you mix a fast and a slow
device on a channel it slows down to the speed of the slower one.

You sure about that? I read that issue is solved on today's mb's.