Performance penalty for 2 HDDs on a single IDE channel?

[Goi]

Hi guys,
I have a Gigabyte i845PE motherboard that has only 2 IDE channels supporting ATA100. My 2nd IDE channel is fully taken up by my 2 optical drives, and my primary IDE0 is currently only occupied by my WD1200JB HDD. I'm kinda running low on disc space(curses eMule/Sharereactor with fist held high! ) so I'm thinking of chucking in my old WD Expert 7200 20.5GB ATA66 HDD in to store some of the data files that don't require so much speed.

I'm wondering if there'll be any adverse effects on the above configuration? Would it even matter if the older, slower HDD is Master while the newer, faster one is slave? I remember that I seem to have a problem running the WD1200JB as Master on IDE0...which is why its currently slave. However, I can't remember what the problem was.

 

[Crassus]

Well, as far as I know the speed of each one should remain as it is, as long as you don't access em both at the smae time. They have to share the controller bandwith. Easiest thing would simply be to try it and use HDtach or something to see what happens.

 

[thorin]

Most modern mobos support independant device timing so both device should operate in their max interface mode (ATA66/100/133 whatever) assuming the correct cable is used. And assuming no device is working in PIO mode (which should only happen if you mix an older Optical drive with a HD).

Thorin

 

[Goi]

So it shouldn't be a problem, even if the slower drive was Master and the faster one is Slave?

 

[thorin]

Correct.

Thorin

 

[Brian48]

The only performance problems I've come across with two HDDs on a single IDE port is whenever I'm transfering large files from one drive to the other. Having them on separate drives is a little faster in this regard. Other than that, I've never had any complaints.

 

[Goi]

Would it be better to use a separate ATA133 PCI controller card? I have a cheap generic one lying around with the SilImage chip from my old computer.

 

[thorin]

Yes having 4 drives (each as master) on 4 seperate channels is definately optimal.

Thorin