need some hardware info please

[[BR]Magikal]

hello all.
ok i was just wondering if someone could explain (strees the word explain) the differnece between certain settings pertaining to ide devices.

settings like
pio mode 0,1,2,3,4
udma mode 0,1,2,3,4
(and one i have never heard of)
i know pretty much what dma is but i would like to know what the difference between modes is.(and i really want to know what the wm dma mode is cause i have never heard of it) however i really dont know what the pio mode is ive never been able to find a good explaination of it.
wm dma mode 0,1,2

i have a be6 mobo with latest bios and am using an ibm 13.5 gig hdd model # djna375350(i think)
i was a little curious of what kind of settings could be changed for my hdd in the hpt66 controller on my mobo and it gave me all of the choices above. as you can guess i was a little confused as to what it all meant and would very much like to know.

any info on this would be very much appreciated!

thanx

[NDC]

Well, I will give you a brief explanation of PIO and DMA modes. http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/smile.gif


PIO = Programmed Input/Output Mode
DMA = Direct Memory Access Mode

PIO is performed by CPU, meaning that CPU is the work-horse.

DMA is the generic term used to refer to a transfer protocol where a peripheral device transfers information directly to or from memory, without the system processor being required to perform the transaction.

Note: DMA is better than PIO since DMA doesn't need to depend on the CPU to do the processsing. http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/smile.gif

Want to learn more? Look here:
http://www.pcguide.com/ref/mbsys/bios/set/idePIO-c.html

[This message has been edited by NDC (edited 11-04-2000).]