IDE Channel - Please Help

[RichDem]

Hi,

I recently brought a Maxtor 40GB UDMA 100 drive for my Thunderbird 850 based system. I now have three hard drives and a Yamaha CDRW. I have moved one of my old drives onto the same IDE channel as my CDRW, it is set as a secondary Slave. My question is that the drive is running really slow, I assume this is because it is on the same channel as my CDRW. Would it be better to have the CDRW as a secondary slave. i want to keep the drives for storage when I edit video.

Is there any way around this problem, both of my old drives are UDMA 33, old I know but they fill my requirements. The new drive is on the same channel as my old boot drive, so far I haven't noticed a speed problem. I was concerned at first that having a UDMA 33 drive on the same channel as a UDMA 100 drive would cause problems but so far so good. My motherboard is an Abit KT7 (Non Raid)

Any help would be much appreciated

Richard Carter

[Fingers]

I don't think there is anything inherently wrong with the way you have it set up, but personally, I'd have the CD writer slaved to the hdd.

As far as mixing ATA33/66/100, there isn't as much difference as you might think, and most new mobos are able use the full capability of an ATA66/100 hdd, even if it's sharing a channel with an ATA33 device. (as long as you're using a 40-pin 80-conductor IDE cable.

The first thing I'd check is in Device Manager. See if you're running "MS-Dos compatability mode" for any of your drives. Then check to see if DMA is enabled for the drive in question.

[NDD]

First thing, follow Fingers' instructions. I also advice you to try putting CDRW slaved to primary ATA100 HD, and your other two ATA33 drives on secondary channel. This way you'll achieve best performance.
Don't use VIA BM IDE drivers which come with VIA 4in-1 pack, use the original from MS.

Best Regards ...

[elroy]

Most cd burners recommend that they are installed as a master

[otheos]

You can always buy a PCI IDE controller for an extra 4 devices. That won't set you back more than $40 and will allow for all your drives. Can I hear someone whispering SCSI..... but you said you didn't plan to bet all these drives to begin with so you're excused