IDE channels question...

[CannonRIP]

If I had two hard drives, each 7200 RPM, but one was ATA-66 and the other ATA-100, would it be better to run each drive as the master on its own IDE channel, or can I run them as master & slave on the same IDE channel without any problems or real-world performance loss?

I read somewhere that it is best to keep each hard drive on its own IDE channel, but is that really the case? Are there any tangible real-world benefits to settinp up one's drives this way?

Thanks...

 

[damien6]

Technically if you connect them to the same IDE channel then the transfer rate would be operating at the slowest speed of the two, which in your case is ATA66.

But I have yet to see any real world performance difference between all the interfaces (ATA 33/66/100) except on benchmarking programs. Going from 5400rpm spindle rate to 7200rpm is the real kick that you notice right away but other than that I doubt that you'll even notice the differences. Hell, I got the free ATA100 card w/Maxtor HD (Staples deal) so I'm using it but I wouldn't go out of my way to actually buy it or install it if it was anything of a hassle. It actually added few miniscule delay in bootup but w/everything (main HDs + 3x DVD/CD-RW/CD-Rom) being scsi it really doesn't mean all that to me.

 

[damien6]

BTW- unless that mobo has more than (2) IDE channels, where are you going to attach your DVD/CD-RW/CD-Rom? Because these peripherals are ATA33 so, it'll bing down which ever HD that you connect to the same channel to ATA33 rate.

Or -if you use separate channels (because your mobo has more built onboard) or use a PCI ATA controller, it delay your bootup time searching + initializing all the peripherals. (not that it really matter)

 

[4824guy]

<< is best to keep each hard drive on its own IDE channel, but is that really the case? >>



Yes, it would speed up any transfer between the two drives if they are each on its own IDE channel.

 

[Noriaki]

<< Technically if you connect them to the same IDE channel then the transfer rate would be operating at the slowest speed of the two, which in your case is ATA66. >>

Why does everyone think this?
This used to be true. It simply is not the case on any relatively new controller. I don't think it was even true on the 440BX...
IDE can use two drives in two different modes.

I lost the benchmarks unfortunately...but I saw one with a 7200RPM ATA66 DMax+40 alone and with a CDROM chained off it...trust me ATA66 vs PIO4 would be a huge difference. It was well under 1%...close enough that other random factors make up the difference.

What IDE can not effectively do is communicate with both Master and Slave at the same time.
So if you want to use both drives at once, then it's better to have each with it's own channel.

 

[Mday]

noriaki is correct, modern controllers have fixed that same channel specification problem.

but it has not fixed the other problem... putting your HDDs in different channels would improve communication between those drives.