DVD-RW as master or slave

[scooter1]

I have a DVD-RW and a DVD-ROM drive on the same IDE channel. Does it matter which is set as the master and which is the slave?

 

[Muse]

Probably best to have the DVD master. That's what I've done and I've seen that recommended, but that was for DVD-ROM drives. It's probably more so for DVD-RW drives.

 

[scooter1]

They are both DVDs. Are you saying I should put the DVD-RW as the master?

 

[deathwalker]

The writer as Master...always.

 

[blodhi74]

RW as master

 

[Muse]

Originally posted by: scooter1
They are both DVDs. Are you saying I should put the DVD-RW as the master?

Yes. I meant that between a CDRW and DVD-Rom drive, I was counseled to (and did) have the DVD-Rom as master. I'd think that between a CDRW and DVD-RW drive, the DVD-RW would be best as master. It's going to have the greater throughput requirements. The DVD-RW drive I'm contemplating (NEC 2510a) also writes to CDRW, if I'm not mistaken.

 

[Bad Dude]

What about if I got a DVDrom/CDRW with a DVDRW drive? I got DVDrom/CDRW as master and the DVDRW drive as the slave.
The problem I got is that some times Nero 6 does not see that the drive has a blank CD in it.

 

[mitchafi]

What does it matter? (Serious Question).

 

[drag]

Originally posted by: mitchafi
What does it matter? (Serious Question).

The IDE cable is controlled by the Master. Hence the Master/Slave relationship. The master has priority over slave, and controls the speed at which the IDE connections runs at.

 

[jspeicher]

don't DVdRW drives have DVD-ROM readability?

 

[Spamdini]

good thing to know since i didnt know...

 

[corkyg]

I would put it in an external Firewire enclosure and not screw around with Master or Slave internally. They do work better that way.

 

[Maezr]

Originally posted by: drag

Originally posted by: mitchafi
What does it matter? (Serious Question).

The IDE cable is controlled by the Master. Hence the Master/Slave relationship. The master has priority over slave, and controls the speed at which the IDE connections runs at.

I'm still curious if it would have any practical impact at the end of the day

 

[Bad Dude]

I am still having problem with my drive some times not seeing the blank CDR in it. Then reboot a few times and there it is. What do you guys think is the problem? I have changed out cables and no difference.
Thanks.

 

[drag]

Originally posted by: Maezr

Originally posted by: drag

Originally posted by: mitchafi
What does it matter? (Serious Question).

The IDE cable is controlled by the Master. Hence the Master/Slave relationship. The master has priority over slave, and controls the speed at which the IDE connections runs at.

I'm still curious if it would have any practical impact at the end of the day

It can if one drive designed for a older spec then the other one. For instance if you have 2 drives and one runs at maximum ATA speed of ATA/66 and the other one runs at a ATA/133.

IF the ATA/66 runs as Master, then both will run at ATA/66. If the faster one is Master then the fast one will run at ATA/133 and the slower one will run at ATA/66. Except on older IDE controllers... I think there revision somewere that allowed the slave to be using a slower protocol then the Master.

Not 100% sure though.

But it's important for you to remember that because the fastest regular CDROM burner runs will use 15MB/s of bandwidth, so most CDROM makers don't bother to make then conform to anything.

For instance my WD 120gig drive can handle udma5, which is ATA/100 spec. While my DVD drive can only go up to udma2, which is only ATA/33.

So if I was to put the DVDROM drive as Master, then my harddrive would only be able to do 25MB/s or so, while currently it can do 42-46MB/s.

So it would cut my drive performance almost in half. (IF i am correct, which I am not 100%, but I have benchmarked at UDMA2 settings for my drive and that's the best it can do at that setting.)

Now for DVD burners it may not make a difference, maybe they can only be set to UDMA2 like my DVDROM, but I know that these suckers need a clean data stream your burning and you don't want to get that interrupted by a music CD your playing absentmindedly as your burning.

 

[wkwong]

Originally posted by: drag

Originally posted by: mitchafi
What does it matter? (Serious Question).

The IDE cable is controlled by the Master. Hence the Master/Slave relationship. The master has priority over slave, and controls the speed at which the IDE connections runs at.

oooo.. i get it now

 

[lavagirl669]

DVD RW as master for sure

 

[Muse]

Originally posted by: Bad_Dude
I am still having problem with my drive some times not seeing the blank CDR in it. Then reboot a few times and there it is. What do you guys think is the problem? I have changed out cables and no difference.
Thanks.

Well, you said you have the DVDRW as slave. Have you tried making it the master?

 

[SilentZero]

Yup...all mine are set to Master. Do it no other way.

 

[Muse]

Originally posted by: SilentZero
Yup...all mine are set to Master. Do it no other way.

Well, I might have to jam up my IDE channels. Right now I have a Promise IDE controller PCI card that I have my HDs on and have a DVD-Rom and CDRW as master on the MB's IDE channels. But I need another PCI slot for my firewire card. I hate to take out my sound card and use the AC'97, so I'm thinking of getting a big HD (right now have 3 x 80 GB HDs) and using just 2 HDs as the masters and having my CD and DVD drives as slaves, dispensing with the IDE controller card. I just don't know what the best course is, but I NEED that firewire card in there (only 5 PCI slots in this MSI KT3 Ultra2 MB). I guess a DVD-RW drive might be the answer. Can't you use that for both CDRW and DVDRW purposes as well as DVD play, CD play? Why do I even need another CD/DVD drive? Ideas?

 

[raystorm]

Any particular reason why you need both drives?? I have a DVD-RW drive and since it pretty much does everything a cd/dvd/cdrw can do I decided to just leave it in by itself and put my dvd-rom and cd-rw drive in the closet. That's one less drive in the pc, one less power connector used and one less IDE cable that is stuffed into the case (if you put both HDD and drive on the same IDE channel..I don't but know some who do).

If you must use both drives then put the writer as master and regular dvd drive as slave like the rest of the folks here recommend.

 

[mitchafi]

What about If I have a single EIDE harddrive connected. Should it be master or cable select?

 

[jspeicher]

i thought most DVDRW drives read DVDRoms....?

 

[SickBeast]

I thought the terms "master" and "slave" were no longer to be used in the computer industry?

In any event, it doesn't matter if it's the master/slave. I set mine to master because I'm fussy.

 

[manly]

Originally posted by: drag

Originally posted by: Maezr

Originally posted by: drag

Originally posted by: mitchafi
What does it matter? (Serious Question).

The IDE cable is controlled by the Master. Hence the Master/Slave relationship. The master has priority over slave, and controls the speed at which the IDE connections runs at.

I'm still curious if it would have any practical impact at the end of the day

It can if one drive designed for a older spec then the other one. For instance if you have 2 drives and one runs at maximum ATA speed of ATA/66 and the other one runs at a ATA/133.

IF the ATA/66 runs as Master, then both will run at ATA/66. If the faster one is Master then the fast one will run at ATA/133 and the slower one will run at ATA/66. Except on older IDE controllers... I think there revision somewere that allowed the slave to be using a slower protocol then the Master.

Not 100% sure though.

But it's important for you to remember that because the fastest regular CDROM burner runs will use 15MB/s of bandwidth, so most CDROM makers don't bother to make then conform to anything.

For instance my WD 120gig drive can handle udma5, which is ATA/100 spec. While my DVD drive can only go up to udma2, which is only ATA/33.

So if I was to put the DVDROM drive as Master, then my harddrive would only be able to do 25MB/s or so, while currently it can do 42-46MB/s.

So it would cut my drive performance almost in half. (IF i am correct, which I am not 100%, but I have benchmarked at UDMA2 settings for my drive and that's the best it can do at that setting.)

Now for DVD burners it may not make a difference, maybe they can only be set to UDMA2 like my DVDROM, but I know that these suckers need a clean data stream your burning and you don't want to get that interrupted by a music CD your playing absentmindedly as your burning.

Sorry but a lot of this sounds like crock.