How to set up 3 IDE devices (master/slave)

[Charley]

I have: 1 Maxtor 120GB HD, 1 WD 300GB HD and 1 Plextor PX-716A. I boot
WinXP Pro from the Maxtor 120GB HD. My question is how to set up the other
2 drives. Should they both be on the second IDE channel as master/slave?
If so, which is master? Should one be set as slave on the primary IDE? If
so, which?

Right now, I have the 120GB HD and the DVD as masters, but the computer some
times hangs on shutdown and there are other intermittent (seemingly hardware
related) problems.

Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[David H. Lipman]

From: "Charley" <[email protected]>

| I have: 1 Maxtor 120GB HD, 1 WD 300GB HD and 1 Plextor PX-716A. I boot
| WinXP Pro from the Maxtor 120GB HD. My question is how to set up the other
| 2 drives. Should they both be on the second IDE channel as master/slave?
| If so, which is master? Should one be set as slave on the primary IDE? If
| so, which?
|
| Right now, I have the 120GB HD and the DVD as masters, but the computer some
| times hangs on shutdown and there are other intermittent (seemingly hardware
| related) problems.
|
| Any advice would be appreciated.
|

IDE cahannel 0
Master - Maxtor 120GB
Slave - Plextor PX-716A

IDE channel 1
Master - WD 300GB (single drive)

 

[RoadRunner]

Hi ... First thing you need to do is find out as to whether your motherboard
will support a 300 gb hard drive , Because there couldn't be some problems
there , find out , Any ways , This is how you should set up your drives >>>
Hard drive ( Maxtor ) should be IDE controller master # 1 , Hard drive (
WD ) IDE controller slave # 1 , make sure you place the jumper to the slave
postion and your Optical drive ( Plextor ) should be IDE controller master
# 2 , ?You should see this set up in the Bios set up ...

.....

 

[RoadRunner]

I meant to say channel but you got the idea anyways

 

[Richard Urban]

I would set up the Maxtor 120 gig as primary master, the Plextor as primary
slave. Set the WD 300 as secondary "single" (WD does not allow you to have a
master without a slave attached - hence set as single drive).

The reasoning is as follows. If both drives are on the same IDE channel any
reads/writes to the drives are performed sequentially. The IDE channel
resources are "shared" between the two drives - they both can not be reading
or writing at the same time.

If each drive is attached to it's own IDE controller the drives can, and
will, read/write concurrently (at the same time). This will give you better
performance when working with large files. The operating system on the first
drive can be doing it's own thing as the second drive is reading or writing
large files, such as when ripping audio or rendering video.

--


Regards,

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User

Quote from George Ankner:
If you knew as much as you think you know,
You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!

 

[Charley]

I use the Plexy (a lot) for backup/archiving. Wouldn't it be better set as
master? And if so, where should the WD be?

 

[Richard Urban]

I would not. I have 6 IDE devices in my computer. The CD-RW and the CD
DVD-RW are on their own channel. The drives are split among the other IDE
channel and an add-in ATA-100 card. I have room for 2 more drives .

You, of course, can do as you wish.

--


Regards,

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User

Quote from George Ankner:
If you knew as much as you think you know,
You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!

 

[David H. Lipman]

From: "Richard Urban" <[email protected]>

| I would not. I have 6 IDE devices in my computer. The CD-RW and the CD
| DVD-RW are on their own channel. The drives are split among the other IDE
| channel and an add-in ATA-100 card. I have room for 2 more drives .
|
| You, of course, can do as you wish.
|

If Charley wants the DVD drive to be a master, then another controller is a good idea.
Charley can obtain a IDE paddle card as a tertiary IDE controller, IDE channel 2. Then all
drives can be single drives on their own channel producing the best system performance.

 

[Richard Urban]

From: "Richard Urban" <[email protected]>

| I would not. I have 6 IDE devices in my computer. The CD-RW and the CD
| DVD-RW are on their own channel. The drives are split among the other
IDE
| channel and an add-in ATA-100 card. I have room for 2 more drives .
|
| You, of course, can do as you wish.
|

If Charley wants the DVD drive to be a master, then another controller is
a good idea.
Charley can obtain a IDE paddle card as a tertiary IDE controller, IDE
channel 2. Then all
drives can be single drives on their own channel producing the best system
performance.

******************

Hmm! Paddle card. I have never heard them referred to as such!



--


Regards,

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User

Quote from George Ankner:
If you knew as much as you think you know,
You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!

 

[GHalleck]

******************

Hmm! Paddle card. I have never heard them referred to as such!

Yup. That's what they were called at one time. Just a card
that inserted into a motherboard slot...no connections on
the metal tang.

 

[Charley]

Well, I'm convinced. It looks like I can get an ATA 100/133 PCI card for
about $20. So that's what I'll do, then.

Thanks for the help!

 

[Charley]

Well, I'm convinced. It looks like I can get an ATA 100/133 PCI card for
about $20. So that's what I'll do, then.

Thanks for the help!

 

[Jonny]

The 300GB drive will work no different as slave on the primary, or master on
secondary. Hard drives are accessed independently, one at time on local ide
systems. So are partitions in windows.

An independent bus system for an alternate hard drive is better because one
can read on the local ide, while the other writes on the alternate bus
system.

 

[Yves Leclerc]

Your suggested configuration is wrong! It is never recommended to run an
optical driver (Plextor) on the same channel as a hard drive. It is evern
"worst" to connect the Plextor on the same IDE channel as the boot disk.

Most recommended cconfiguration:

Ide channel 0:

Master: Maxtor 120GB
slave: WD 300GB

Ide channel 1:

Master: Plextor PX-716A


It is recommended to "clone" your 120Gb onto the WD 300GB, since this drive
will probably be the faster of the two drives.

 

[David H. Lipman]

From: "Yves Leclerc" <[email protected]>

| Your suggested configuration is wrong! It is never recommended to run an
| optical driver (Plextor) on the same channel as a hard drive. It is evern
| "worst" to connect the Plextor on the same IDE channel as the boot disk.
|
| Most recommended cconfiguration:
|
| Ide channel 0:
|
| Master: Maxtor 120GB
| slave: WD 300GB
|
| Ide channel 1:
|
| Master: Plextor PX-716A
|
| It is recommended to "clone" your 120Gb onto the WD 300GB, since this drive
| will probably be the faster of the two drives.

That's not true at all ! Show me where it is contraindicated by vendors and/or
manufacturers.

Anyway, Charley has indicated he will purchase a Tertiary IDE controller card.

 

[RoadRunner]

Richard .... If you wouldn't mind explaining how exactly is your system set
up ? Thanks

....

 

[Torgeir Bakken \(MVP\)]

That's not true at all ! Show me where it is contraindicated by vendors and/or
manufacturers.

Hi,

It was an issue for many moons ago when there were chipsets that didn't
support independent master/slave device timing.

From http://www.pcguide.com/ref/hdd/if/ide/confPerformance-c.html :

<quote>
Independent Master/Slave Device Timing: Hard disk controllers on modern
systems support running the master and slave device at different
speeds, if one supports faster transfer modes than the other. Some
systems, however, especially older ones, do not. If you are using two
devices with radically different maximum transfer rates, and the
chipset doesn't support independent timing, you will slow down the
faster device to the speed of the slower one.
</quote>

 

[David H. Lipman]

From: "Torgeir Bakken (MVP)" <[email protected]>


| Hi,
|
| It was an issue for many moons ago when there were chipsets that didn't
| support independent master/slave device timing.
|
| From http://www.pcguide.com/ref/hdd/if/ide/confPerformance-c.html :
|
| <quote>
| Independent Master/Slave Device Timing: Hard disk controllers on modern
| systems support running the master and slave device at different
| speeds, if one supports faster transfer modes than the other. Some
| systems, however, especially older ones, do not. If you are using two
| devices with radically different maximum transfer rates, and the
| chipset doesn't support independent timing, you will slow down the
| faster device to the speed of the slower one.
| </quote>
|

Thanx Torgeir. You are always a source of excellent information.

That shows that this is a rare issue and one that should not be a problem with modern
hardware associated with a WinXP platform.

Based upon the post indicating the use of 120GB and 300GB hard drives and the Plextor drive,
this should not be an issue.