2 devices on 1 IDE Channel or not

[ctbrown]

I'm setting up my new system and I have 2 IDE HDS and two DVD burners. I also have a promise ATA133 controler card with two channels. And FYI, I aslo have a SATA II drive.

My question is it better to give each drive its own IDE channel using the extra two channels on the controler card? Or should I forget the card and use only the two channels on the MOBO with the drives in master&slave configuration.

Specificly, will there be a performance advantage one way or the other.

 

[Zepper]

Optimum is for each drive to have its own channel. OTOH, if you are careful about mostly doing transfers cross-channel then you probably wouldn't see much difference. IOW and e.g., if you plan to do a burn, make sure that the data source is on one channel and the burner is on the other. But that arrangement requires actually thinking about what you're doing all the time and who can put up with that.?. So if you've got a spare controller, why not use it?

.bh.