I have two Western Digital disk drives, one 120GB, the
other 200GB (both ATA 100 UDMA mode5). I have verified,
with help from WD, data integrity, speed, cabling and
connectivity on both drives.

If I install WinXP on either one drive and playback video
located on the other drive, the video is corrupted. This
only happens for .avi files >1MB. In all other cases (.avi
<1MB, .mpg, .wmv, or OS+video on same drive) video playback
is perfect.

To be more precise:
The 120GB has an 8MB buffer and reads at ~36MB/s.
The 200GB has a 2MB buffer and reads at ~42MB/s.
With OS on 120GB, video playback from 200GB has a moving
patchquilt of small predominantly pink squares and white
noise audio.
With OS on 200GB, video playback from 120GB is stop-frame
at about 2 frames/s and there is no sound.
The same thing happens when playing video using either
Windows Media Player or Adobe Premiere.

Does WinXP "characterize" the disk speed it is installed on
and assume the same speed for any other hard disk?

Any other suggestions?

BobW

Hi,

Make sure you are using a 40 Pin 80 Conductor flat ribbon cable or an ATA133 round cable (the newest IDE cable) and both HDDs are jumpered to cable select (CS)

Boot into BIOS, check the primary IDE channel to ensure UDMA mode is enabled for both Hdds (should be UDMA mode 5 for ATA100). Save and exit BIOS setup.

Start the PC, go to device manager, click IDE ATA/Atapi controllers and then click the Primary IDE channel, click Advance Settings and check the DMA mode for the primary IDE channel, device 0 and device 1 should be the same at UDMA mode 5.
Select "DMA mode if available" if ithe transfer mode is not set to UDMA mode, click OK.

Go to control panel, right click on the C drive, click properties, click the hardware tab, highlight the Hdd and right click/ properties, select 'Optimize for performance" and check the box "Enable write caching on the disk", click OK.
Do the same for the slave drive as above-mentioned.

Check the performance after reboot.
Post back if still have problems.

--
Peter


"BobW" wrote:

> I have two Western Digital disk drives, one 120GB, the
> other 200GB (both ATA 100 UDMA mode5). I have verified,
> with help from WD, data integrity, speed, cabling and
> connectivity on both drives.
>
> If I install WinXP on either one drive and playback video
> located on the other drive, the video is corrupted. This
> only happens for .avi files >1MB. In all other cases (.avi
> <1MB, .mpg, .wmv, or OS+video on same drive) video playback
> is perfect.
>
> To be more precise:
> The 120GB has an 8MB buffer and reads at ~36MB/s.
> The 200GB has a 2MB buffer and reads at ~42MB/s.
> With OS on 120GB, video playback from 200GB has a moving
> patchquilt of small predominantly pink squares and white
> noise audio.
> With OS on 200GB, video playback from 120GB is stop-frame
> at about 2 frames/s and there is no sound.
> The same thing happens when playing video using either
> Windows Media Player or Adobe Premiere.
>
> Does WinXP "characterize" the disk speed it is installed on
> and assume the same speed for any other hard disk?
>
> Any other suggestions?
>
> BobW
>

Peter,

Thanks for posting.

>-----Original Message-----
>Hi,
>
>Make sure you are using a 40 Pin 80 Conductor flat ribbon
cable or an ATA133 round cable (the newest IDE cable) and
both HDDs are jumpered to cable select (CS)
>
Cable is fine. (White, 80 Conductor). This worked fine
with two 120GB drives.

>Boot into BIOS, check the primary IDE channel to ensure
UDMA mode is enabled for both Hdds (should be UDMA mode 5
for ATA100). Save and exit BIOS setup.
>
Both drives are ATA100 UDMA Mode 5.

>Start the PC, go to device manager, click IDE ATA/Atapi
controllers and then click the Primary IDE channel, click
Advance Settings and check the DMA mode for the primary IDE
channel, device 0 and device 1 should be the same at UDMA
mode 5.
>Select "DMA mode if available" if ithe transfer mode is
not set to UDMA mode, click OK.
>
Both are UDMA5. (NB Device 1 has current transfer mode "Not
Applicable").

>Go to control panel, right click on the C drive,
What? There is no C drive in the control panel.
Ok, you meant explorer.

>click properties, click the hardware tab, highlight the
Hdd and right click/ properties,

I need to then select the policies tab.
> select 'Optimize for performance" and check the box
"Enable write caching on the disk", click OK.
All options on this page are greyed out.
Optimize for perfromance (write caching) is checked (but
greyed).

>Do the same for the slave drive as above-mentioned.

My problem is not with writing.
I have proved data integrity in several ways.

>
>Check the performance after reboot.
>Post back if still have problems.
>
>--
>Peter


BobW