How do I set up my optical and hard disk drives?

[14k]

I have 1 DVD-ROM, 1 DVD-RW

DVD-RW set to master, DVD-ROM set to slave

2 hdd's both are SATA so will be connected to the SATA ports.

My question is does it matter whether the optical drives are on the Primary or Secondary channel? Does it also matter whether the master drive is plugged into the connector on the end of the IDE cable of the connector that sits inbetween?


... and do the 2 hdd's just go into the SATA1 and SATA2 ports respectively?

Thank You.

 

[iRONic]

Originally posted by: 14k
I have 1 DVD-ROM, 1 DVD-RW

My question is does it matter whether the optical drives are on Primary or Secondary channel?
... and do the 2 hdd's just go into the SATA1 and SATA2 ports respectively?

Put them on the Primary channel. Your SATA port selection is correct.

Tip: Don't plug both of the hdd's in during OS install. Set it up the way you want and then plug your second hdd in.

 

[14k]

Originally posted by: iRONic

Originally posted by: 14k
I have 1 DVD-ROM, 1 DVD-RW

My question is does it matter whether the optical drives are on Primary or Secondary channel?
... and do the 2 hdd's just go into the SATA1 and SATA2 ports respectively?

Put them on the Primary channel. Your SATA port selection is correct.

Tip: Don't plug both of the hdd's in during OS install. Set it up the way you want and then plug your second hdd in.

Thanks, what about the IDE connectors does it matter which order they are in?

Also, do jumpers need to be set on the hdd's if they are SATA drives?

 

[piasabird]

If you have 2 IDE Ports, and are using SATA Hard Drives put the optical drives on their own IDE Cable.

Try using Cable Select on the CDROMS. I think the master goes on the end of the cable but I can not recall. If you plug them in and turn on the computer and go to bios it will tell you which is master and slave. They probably will be read in the BIOS/CMOS and will show up as primary/master, etc. Personally, I do not think it matters, becaus you probably want to read from one drive and write on the other. CDROM data can only read and write so fast and the IDE interface is dsigned to keep up with 4 hard drives.

It is more important to keep the cable at a minimum of 18 inches. They make longer cables, but 18 inches is the maximum length in the ATA/IDE Standard. (Optical drives may be specifically ATAPI Devices) One thing I have always wondered is which Optical device likes the cable with more wires (80 wires) and which work best with the fewer (40 wire) wire cables. Some drives may prefer the 80 wire cables.

Then there are settings in the BIOS for DMA Memory Access.

If you have 2 IDE Ports, and are using SATA Hard Drives put the optical drives on their own IDE Cable.



The 40 wire Ribbon Cable works differently than on the 80 wire ribbon cable.

I think all 80 Wire cables are Cable Select Cables and it matters where on the cable the drive is placed and you must use the CS Cable select setting.

http://www.mikeshardware.com/howtos/howto_connect_ide_hd.html

 

[iRONic]

Originally posted by: 14k


Also, do jumpers need to be set on the hdd's if they are SATA drives?

SATA hdd don't have jumpers.

 

[14k]

Originally posted by: piasabird
If you have 2 IDE Ports, and are using SATA Hard Drives put the optical drives on their own IDE Cable.

Try using Cable Select on the CDROMS. I think the master goes on the end of the cable but I can not recall. If you plug them in and turn on the computer and go to bios it will tell you which is master and slave. They probably will be read in the BIOS/CMOS and will show up as primary/master, etc. Personally, I do not think it matters, becaus you probably want to read from one drive and write on the other. CDROM data can only read and write so fast and the IDE interface is dsigned to keep up with 4 hard drives.

It is more important to keep the cable at a minimum of 18 inches. They make longer cables, but 18 inches is the maximum length in the ATA/IDE Standard. (Optical drives may be specifically ATAPI Devices) One thing I have always wondered is which Optical device likes the cable with more wires (80 wires) and which work best with the fewer (40 wire) wire cables. Some drives may prefer the 80 wire cables.

Then there are settings in the BIOS for DMA Memory Access.

If you have 2 IDE Ports, and are using SATA Hard Drives put the optical drives on their own IDE Cable.



The 40 wire Ribbon Cable works differently than on the 80 wire ribbon cable.

I think all 80 Wire cables are Cable Select Cables and it matters where on the cable the drive is placed and you must use the CS Cable select setting.

http://www.mikeshardware.com/howtos/howto_connect_ide_hd.html

Ok, that's what I'll do! Only downside though is that it's an extra big fat cable in the case getting in the way

 

[14k]

Originally posted by: iRONic

Originally posted by: 14k
I have 1 DVD-ROM, 1 DVD-RW

My question is does it matter whether the optical drives are on Primary or Secondary channel?
... and do the 2 hdd's just go into the SATA1 and SATA2 ports respectively?

Put them on the Primary channel. Your SATA port selection is correct.

Tip: Don't plug both of the hdd's in during OS install. Set it up the way you want and then plug your second hdd in.

Just wondering why that is? It would be easier to set both up before sorting all the software out, but not if Microsoft mucks it all up during installation?

 

[iRONic]

Originally posted by: 14k


Just wondering why that is? It would be easier to set both up before sorting all the software out, but not if Microsoft mucks it all up during installation?

It's just a preference I have to prevent weird boot/re-boot issues during Windows setup/install.

 

[alevasseur14]

From my experience, most SATA drives do in fact have jumpers. Maybe it's only SATA II drives but all the drives I've had access to have jumper settings available to force the drive into SATA 150 operation.

This isn's actually necessary though, most motherboards will force a drive to SATA 150 if they don't support the new SATA II standard. My Neo2 Platinum doesn't make me set the jumper anyways.

Regarding your opticals, it would be ideal if you had them each on their own channel from the motherboard. Reason being the IDE spec doesn't allow for asynchronous communication between devices on the same channel. In other words, if you are reading with one drive while attempting to burn to another, the burning drive has to wait for the reader to finish reading a bit of information before it can start burning it. When you move the opticals onto their own channels, you can read from one drive and burn to the other with no issues. I realize that this means another bulky IDE cable and that may or may not be worth it to you. Myself, I left both my opticals on the same channel even after I went SATA with my HDs.

Hope this helps!!!