primary/secondary master/slave question, need help fast

[nabeels786]

hi,
i have a question.
you know how it goes:

primary

master
slave


secondary
master
slave

can i add a 3rd device?

because this is whats on my comp:

primary:
HDD
HDD

secondary:
CD-ROM
Zip 250

i wanna add a DVD drive

thanks,
nabeel

 

[nabeels786]

so ill be
CDROM
Zip
DVD

is it possible or do i have to take out one of my devices?

thanks again,
nabeel

 

[datallah]

Each of the IDE Channels (Primary, Secondary) on the IDE Controller that is in your motherboard can handle 2 devices (Master, Slave). You cannot put a third device on a IDE channel. Unless your motherboard has additional IDE channels built in (e.g. Asus A7V or ABit KT7-RAID) you will need to either remove one of your devices or buy ATA PCI Card such as the Promise Ultra100 which can be had for under $30 (see www.pricewatch.com, search for Promise Ultra 100).

If you buy the ATA PCI Card, it will give you another 2 IDE Channels which can each have a Master and a Slave on them.

 

[zoom8112]

i agree, get an add on controller card and put each of your hds on their own channels

if theres another device on the same channel as the hd, the hd perf will slow down if both devices are being accessed..

 

[MichaelD]

Datallah nailed it. I'd lose the zip and get a CDBurner instead...unless you're really hellbent on watching movies on your computer that is.

 

[Noriaki]

<< if theres another device on the same channel as the hd, the hd perf will slow down if both devices are being accessed.. >>

Precisely. In a normal motherboard you have 2 IDE channels with 2 devices each. So you have 4 devices total. But you can only really use one on each channel at a time or you take performance hits.
For example i have my setup as follows:

Primary
HDD
Zip

Seconadry
CDRW
DVD

If I use the Zip drive at the same time as the harddrive it hurts hard drive performance (I use my zip almost nil though so it's not a big concern, it just being there doesn't hurt anything).

If you want to get optimum performance from your hard drives you want it alone on a channel or with a slave that isn't in use.

So I would do like datallah says, buy a Promise Ultra 100 card.
put your hard drives on that then put your DVD, CDRW and Zip on your motherboard.

 

[nabeels786]

oh ok, thanks alot.

i have a CD Burner, its a fast USB one, good enough for me since i rarely burn CDs. i ened my DVD because i got this program that converts DVDs to MPEG, then i can burn it to video cd.

-nabeel