Gaz7126
asked on
IDE Config - whats best for 2 HDs, 1 DVD Rom and 1 DVD Writer?
I've recently bought a new HD (Maxtor 6Y060P0) which I wish to use as the new main drive for the PC - re-instaliing the OS (XP) and all S/W Apps etc . The old HD (Maxtor 6Y060L0) will be relagated to be used for general mass storage purposes( CD/DVD images,mpegs,mp3,jpg,zips etc). I also have a DVD Rom and DVD Writer to be installed. The DVD Writer (Ricoh 5125) will generally only be used to burn data stored on the old HD. The DVD Rom will be the work horse for installing to both HDs. (M/B is ASUS A7V8X rev 1.)
I have looked around for previous questions about how to best setup this number/type of devices for best performace but not had any luck. Would like to know what should be Primary, what should be Secondary, Master and Slave.
Regards.
PS. I just read the 'Upgrading to bigger hard drive. How can i transfer all my data to include OS?'... useful and well timed me thinks...
I have looked around for previous questions about how to best setup this number/type of devices for best performace but not had any luck. Would like to know what should be Primary, what should be Secondary, Master and Slave.
Regards.
PS. I just read the 'Upgrading to bigger hard drive. How can i transfer all my data to include OS?'... useful and well timed me thinks...
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ASKER
Is there an advantage of having a partition on the main HD. Does restricting the amount of disk space in terms of phyiscal area help speedup OS response provided that the data it requires is not on the other partition? ie Does restricting the distance that the heads can move help speed up access times?
On a 60Gb hdd I STRONGLY recommend creating at least 2 partitions. I'd make first partition of 5 Gb and split the remaining space in two equal partitions. Installing the OS on a small partition speeds up the system.
ASKER
Nice one...you confirmed my thoughts. I'll Look into that further. I had a 10/50 split on the old disk with the 10 for the OS, Apps and Games - soon got quite full though. Thought now would be the best time to get it right... save time in the future.
kind regards.
kind regards.
If you are interested in improving system response times and you have 2 physical hard drives on two different controllers you may want to setup the swap file on the physical hd that doesn't have the OS installed. Typically the swap file will range between 300 - 700MB. I am not sure the speeds of the hd's that you have installed but if the secondary hd has fairly fast seek speeds I would highly recommend it. See http://www.msnwar.com/Tutorials/Optimize_the_Paging_File/Optimize_the_Paging_File_index.htm for details on doing this. I personally use a similar hd configuration as the one suggested by kronostm and by putting the swap file on the 2nd physical drive have improved system preformance.
ASKER
Nice one Talen1977.. a colleague of mine also mentioned this point... will do...
Just found this reference -- after all the surfin I did last weekend and didnt find anythin.. doh..
More or less confirms the answer originally given by kronostm. Nice to see a table for the possiblilties.
http://www.pcguide.com/ref/hdd/if/ide/conf_Recommendations.htm
Found a link to pcguide.com in another post to a question on another subject. Went there out if interest and found the above... covers loads of stuff... oh, the internet is wonderful... lol..
Just found this reference -- after all the surfin I did last weekend and didnt find anythin.. doh..
More or less confirms the answer originally given by kronostm. Nice to see a table for the possiblilties.
http://www.pcguide.com/ref/hdd/if/ide/conf_Recommendations.htm
Found a link to pcguide.com in another post to a question on another subject. Went there out if interest and found the above... covers loads of stuff... oh, the internet is wonderful... lol..
I looked the ASUS mainboard, that used VIA KT400 chip. The VIA KT400 chip providing Serial ATA Technology:Serial ATA is the next generation ATA specification that provides scalable performance for today and tomorrow. With up to 150MB/s data transfer rate, Serial ATA is faster than current Parallel ATA, while providing 100% software compatibility.I think, you can use discretional way to install you harddisk and the CD-driver.
ASKER
I bought the board when it first came out. SATA was an expensive option at that time - the GOLD version which I got was expensive enough. The IDE on the M/B is 133 anyway - didnt think it worth paying the extra just to go to 150. That maxtor drives are 133 also.
A friend has the SATA version.. yes it is faster... but he got his recently and its now half the price I paid. I understand SATA is to go to 300 by end of next year.
Not too sure what point you're trying to make!!!
A friend has the SATA version.. yes it is faster... but he got his recently and its now half the price I paid. I understand SATA is to go to 300 by end of next year.
Not too sure what point you're trying to make!!!
Now I saw your PS
Norton Ghost or PowerQuest Drive Image do the job of "cloning" the partition to another harddrive.