IDE Drive config

[NRaygun]

When using multiple drives on a system, what is the recommended setup to get maximum performance? That is, if I have 4 connections, and I have two drives, should I put the two drives on the primary or put one on the primary and one on the secondary? Does it make a difference?

 

[corkyg]

If the drives are of equal ATA capability, then they both can be on the same controller with no significant loss in performance. If they are of different ATA capabilities, then having them on separate controllers would allow the faster one to maximize its performance.

In reality, the only way you would ever see any difference is if you ran a bench test on them. In normal use with applications, you will probably never notice the difference.