HDD boot dilemma

IDE Optical drives should not be linked with an IDE HD drive ( on same cable ) it slows the HD down

Well that was what I have been told for years, never done it , never will.
 
Hard Disk and ATAPI Device Channel Sharing: There are several reasons why optical drives (or other ATAPI devices) should not be shared on the same channel as a fast hard disk. ATAPI allows the use of the same physical channels as IDE/ATA, but it is not the same protocol; ATAPI uses a much more complicated command structure. Opticals are also generally much slower devices than hard disks, so they can slow a hard disk down when sharing a channel. Finally, some ATAPI devices cannot deal with DMA bus mastering drivers, and will cause a problem if you try to enable bus mastering for a hard disk on a channel they are using.


Master/Slave Channel Sharing: By its very nature, each IDE/ATA channel can only deal with one request, to one device, at a time. You cannot even begin a second request, even to a different drive, until the first request is completed. This means that if you put two devices on the same channel, they must share it. In practical terms, this means that any time one device is in use, the other must remain silent. In contrast, two disks on two different IDE/ATA channels can process requests simultaneously on most motherboards. The bottom line is that the best way to configure multiple devices is to make each of them a single drive on its own channel, if this is possible. (This restriction is one major disadvantage of IDE compared to SCSI). An add-in controller like the Promise "Ultra" series is a cheap way of adding extra IDE/ATA channels to a modern PC.

OOOPS nearly forgot :rolleyes:
 
Silverwolf said:
IDE Optical drives should not be linked with an IDE HD drive ( on same cable ) it slows the HD down

Well that was what I have been told for years, never done it , never will.
Click to expand...

Only if you're setting the optical drive to master will it slow down the hard drive.

Edit: And that's only on the older systems. For the last couple of years (2 - 3), P-ATA controllers have had different timing registers
 
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Indeed, my mistake I got them around the wrong way, now I have re-read my original post :rolleyes:

Damm Im cracking up:

If you do link a DVD and HD on the same line then the HD should be Master( but not recommended)

From my original quote

Still wouldn't do it. :D
 
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Guys


I promise I'm not retarded.

But I just realised that the power connector wasn't plugged into the connector on the PSU.

I'm sorry for wasting all your time.

however thanks for the advice on running an optical and HDD on the same cable.
 
R.. e.. t.. Naw, I won't do it.

Edit: So my first reply would've fixed the problem when I told you to check the cables? :D
 
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