Is it DMA 66?

[doninwny]

I just installed a Maxtor 13.6 HDD (missed out on the 20 gb at Sam's), 7200 rpm, came with the ultra DMA 66 cable. How do I check if it is working as such? I have a WD 1.5 as a slave. Thanks, Don

[seti]

Obvious question: Do you have an ata66 controller?

[mbarn]

You might try this benchmarking utility that IBM told me to use .www.tcdlabs.com/hdtach.htm It tests both random access and burst rate speed.


[This message has been edited by mbarn (edited 03-03-2000).]

[doninwny]

No, I do have the 80 conductor cable, it came with the drive. What should I look for in HDTach? I have that already.

[seti]

Ok, the cable is 100% backward compatible, so that alone doesn't indicate you're running ata66. In order to run ata66 you either need a pci ata66 controller card, or a motherboard with built in support. Generally BX motherboards with ata66 support with have 4 ide connectors on the motherboard instead of the standard 2. I'm not sure if that's true for 820 boards. Consult your motherboard manual for more information.

What I think mbarn was sujesting is that if HDTach gives you a burst speed rateing of over 33mb/s, it would denote an ata66 function.

If you find you are running ata33, no worries man. The interface standard is still well ahead of DMA drive technology and the performance increase found in ata66 is small.

[This message has been edited by seti (edited 03-04-2000).]