Optimal setup for 2 HD's, DVD-Rom and Burner...

[Shnak]

Alright here it goes:

I'm just about to buy my 2nd hard-drive and I'm wondering how to connect all my devices...

I read somewhere that the DVD should be master on one channel, and I'm assuming my boot/OS hard-drive should be master too...

Where should I put my Burner and 2nd hard-drive (storage, might burn data from this drive) ?

IDE1
master: Primary hard-drive (boot/OS)
slave: CD-RW (?)

IDE2
master: DVD-Rom
slave: 2nd hard-drive (storage)

Or should I put both my optical devices on the same IDE cable?

I guess I won't be doing that much CD-to-CD copies, but I'd like to be able to do some...

Thanks
Shnak

 

[NelsonMuntz]

My personal preference is:
IDE1:
Master: Boot Harddrive
Slave: DVD-ROM
IDE2:
Master: CD-RW
Slave: Second Harddrive

 

[Shnak]

oh... you don't have any problems with the DVD being slave? I know that PowerDVD notifies me when it's not set as Master...

Shnak

 

[NelsonMuntz]

I don't use PowerDVD, but I keep the CD/DVD devices on separate channels to keep Nero happy with "on-the-fly" burning. I like the CD-RW on the second channel because I burn from the main hard drive pretty frequently as well. If you have the DVD as master on the second channel and CD-RW as slave on the first, then when you burn I would suggest going from the second HD or the DVD directly.

 

[TheNewGuy]

Is there much of a problem with having the DVD and the burner on the same IDE channel?? Because of the IDE 66 cable that came with my k7s5a mb, I have to connect one end of the cable to the HD, but it's not long enough to connect either the burner or the DVD and go back to the MB IDE connector. As a result, I have the HD master on one channel, and the DVD master on the second channel, with the burner as the slave...

Lastly, what's the best burner software, nero, clone cd, or other??

Thanks,

Dave

 

[PliotronX]

Mine's:

IDE1
Master: Primary drive (ATA100)
Slave: Storage drive (ATA66)

IDE2
Master: CDRW
Slave: DVDROM

I never do on-the-fly CD copying, so this works out great. I never have problems playing DVDs or burning CDs, but I can't do both at the same time. No biggie though

 

[highwire]

Shnak-
My system evolved to the same IDE setup as NelsonMuntz's. No, my PowerDVD 3.0 does not complain. If yours does - we have a minor mystery why. I don't know. My setup works well - DVD, burning, HD performance.

 

[Shnak]

I just realized something... if I put my DVD or CD-RW on the same channel as my Primary HD (ATA100), that means that the whole channel will only run at ATA33 or ATA66 right?

Shnak

 

[John]

<< I just realized something... if I put my DVD or CD-RW on the same channel as my Primary HD (ATA100), that means that the whole channel will only run at ATA33 or ATA66 right?

Shnak >>



No. However if you copy from the optical drive on the same channel as your HDD it will be slower.