Master and Slave Drives (PLEASE HELP)

[derekjr_1]

I have an MSI k7t Motherboard. I currently have a maxtor 30GB HD (MASTER) and a Sony 40X cd rom (Slave) on IDE Channel 1. On channel 2 I have just a new plextor 16x CDRW (MASTER). I just pick up a 40GB IBM Deskstar HD and want to install into this system for ONLY a backup drive. I will just keep files on this drive and burn from it. How do you recommend install the drive, what channel? Should I install the new HD on ide channel 1 as slave to the master HD and my secondary 40x cd as SLAVE to the plextor burner on IDE Channel 2? Will my Burner lose any performance? How would you do this with these 4 drives? Thanks

 

[MichaelD]

I have a similar situation. I have my backup HD as slave, on same cable as my CDRW. CDRW is master, HD is slave. No probs so far. I wouldn't try to burn from that HD to the CDRW though. As far as a performance hit; I dunno. I haven't had any problems.

 

[circut16]

hook up your two hard drives on the primary channel an the two optical drives on the secondary

 

[derekjr_1]

Would it be bad if I hook the HD's up together and optical drives together and do alot of tranferring between the two HD's. I dont rip from cd to burner that often and can rip to HD first. Would this be better?

 

[Yossarian]

Hmm. I think I would put both HD's on one channel. That way you don't have a CD-ROM slowing down your HD data transfer rate. Then put the CD-ROM as master on channel 2, and the CD-RW as slave on 2. You should have no problems burning cd's direct from the CD-ROM or either HD due to Plextor's kickass burnproof tech.

 

[MichaelD]

You greatly increase your chances of burning coasters if you burn CD to CD and have both CD drives on the same IDE channel. Also, your transfer rate will be significantly lower.

 

[derekjr_1]

Why would you use the cdrw as slave and cd as master? Hmmm, Still cant figure out what I should do...

 

[LordUnum]

<< Hmm. I think I would put both HD's on one channel. That way you don't have a CD-ROM slowing down your HD data transfer rate. >>


Wasn't that a limitation of old IDE controllers (e.g., back to the days of PIO-mode transfers, and such)? I don't believe that'd be something he'd have to worry about that new mobo....

derekjr_1, as you use the backup HD frequently, and probably desire the easiest, safest time copying/backing up CDs (CD-to-CDRW), as said on here before, DO NOT group together the two hard drives, or CD drives on the same channel.

 

[derekjr_1]

Actually I dont need to backup CD's that often. I backup stuff from the HD's. Music files that I create (FROM MY OwN MUSIC).

 

[billyjak]

2 Hard drives on IDE 1 and CD + CDRW on IDE 2, I had my CD on Master and CDRW as slave.

 

[derekjr_1]

Anyone wanna explain why I should have my CD as master and cdrw as slave on IDE2? Any more info is much appreciated.

 

[Yossarian]

Which do you use more often?

 

[office boy]

Opinions are like assholes I know, but here's mine anyway.

IDE 1 master - Primary Hard-drive
IDE 1 slave- - Either CD drive

IDE 2 master - New hard drive
IDE 2 slave- - Either CD drive.

Put the burner on the channel that is opposite from the hard drive that you will record from the most.

 

[derekjr_1]

Probably equal. I use cd to install stuff and listen to music cd's but I use the cdrw to burn tons of backups. Probably the cdrw.

If I setup the HD's on IDE1 will I be able to transfer the files between them, fast? If I do that everyone is saying you shouldn't run 2 devices at 1 time on a given ide channel, but then how would that work with the hard drives?

 

[derekjr_1]

OfficeBoy> I need to record from both drives! Not one or the other more..

 

[office boy]

Get an Promise Ultra 66 or 100

 

[derekjr_1]

I have got a promise ultra 100, but cannot use it beacuse when recording audio, it creates cliks and pops. When removed the system is perfect so I cannot use an ultra 100.

 

[Boobers]

My setup:

Primary:
Master: Boot HD Slave: Data HD
Secondary:
Master: CDRW Slave: DVD/CDROM

This setup works great and I can copy CD's at max speed (8x) from the DVD drive directly to the CDRW (disk at once, on the fly) with the buffer never going below 100%. I never get buffer under-runs, and this is on my Super Socket 7 mobo (MVP3 chipset -ATA66). Anyone who says you take a performance hit just because you hook your drives up a certain way is full of crap. Now, you may have problems if you write at 16x, but I can't write that fast!

BTW, the Promise controller is the biggest POS ever made (right next to the SB Live! 5.1). Data corruption and the BSOD message (&quot;The volume removed contained files...&quot were the two major problems I personally experienced. My A7V has one, and I disabled it 2 days after I got the board. I now have a IWill KK266-R which has the AMI RAID chip and have never been happier.