maybe it's a silly question to some of you veterans but i'll be putting together a computer within the next few weeks which will have a hard drive, dvd-rom, and (2) cdrw drives. when it's said to put the devices on separate ide channels, does that mean physically on separate ide channels. like 1 ide cable has inputs for 2 devices. does that mean they're going on the same channel? i'm a little confused about this stuff. somebody please enlighten me. how would i best go about installing the devices i've named above.

A device on its own channel means it's the only thing on the cable.

Some motherboards have four IDE channels (Asus A7V133 for example - 2 RAID and 2 ATA/100), in which case you could still run each device on its own channel. If you only have two IDE controllers, you would need to put two on each channel, unless you purchase a PCI IDE controller card.

so what would be the best solution? get a mobo with 4 ide channels? how do most of you have yours configured?

i dont know why you need to put in TWO cdr's!, id just go with putting the best one in.

anyway you can get 4 devices onto 1 NORMAL 2 ide channel mobo. each ide has 2 connectors as you have noticed.

if you still want to put all four in the set them up for the optimum speed for how you will be using them.

you will want to put the HD on one channel (as master) with one of the cdr' (on slave) (the slower one that you will use least) .

on the other channel put the dvd (i reckon as master) and the cdr (as slave).

this assumes you will use dvd more than cdr.

basically if a drives is on its own channel its faster and if it is the master on a channel it is faster than slave (i think).

i have an a7v133 and its a pretty stable , good mobo. on the other hand i had trouble just fitting 2 ide cables onto it because of my cramped case. if you do decide to use all 4 channels you will need a great big spacious case otherwise you will end up with a big knotted ball if ide cables.

hope this helped and if you have any other questions on the a7v133 just ask.

slop

quote:Originally posted by Satan's Cheerleader:
so what would be the best solution? get a mobo with 4 ide channels? how do most of you have yours configured?
Most consumer boards only have two channels. But allow 2 devices on each.

Drives have two settings: Master and Slave. Use this setup ( "----->" means cable)

IDE CHANNEL 1 ---> Hard Drive---->CDRW1
___________________(Master)_______(Slave)

IDE CHANNEL 2 --->DVD_ROM--------->CD-RW2
__________________(Master)_________(Slave)

Everything should work then.

quote:Originally posted by Klashe:
[QUOTE]Originally posted by Satan's Cheerleader:
[b]so what would be the best solution? get a mobo with 4 ide channels? how do most of you have yours configured?
Most consumer boards only have two channels. But allow 2 devices on each.

Drives have two settings: Master and Slave. Use this setup ( "----->" means cable)

IDE CHANNEL 1 ---> Hard Drive---->CDRW1
___________________(Master)_______(Slave)

IDE CHANNEL 2 --->DVD_ROM--------->CD-RW2
__________________(Master)_________(Slave)

Everything should work then.

i'm also planning to build a computer with 1 cdrw, dvd, hd for my gf. with three devices is it more important to give the cdrw its own channel or the dvd-rom?

quote:Originally posted by Satan's Cheerleader:
i'm also planning to build a computer with 1 cdrw, dvd, hd for my gf. with three devices is it more important to give the cdrw its own channel or the dvd-rom?

I really don't think it will matter in the long run. There won't be too much of a difference.

I guess the rule of thumb is, whatever you are going to be using the most, then give that it's own IDE channel. Obviously the HD gets its own because it will be the most used. After that, it really depends on the user. Will you be burning CD's more than watching DVD's/Playing games on the DVD-ROM?

quote:Originally posted by Klashe:
I really don't think it will matter in the long run. There won't be too much of a difference.

I guess the rule of thumb is, whatever you are going to be using the most, then give that it's own IDE channel. Obviously the HD gets its own because it will be the most used. After that, it really depends on the user. Will you be burning CD's more than watching DVD's/Playing games on the DVD-ROM?

i doubt very many dvd movies will be watched on it. i'm thinking on the system with 2 burners i'll use one channel for hd as master, dvd as slave. and on the other channel i'll make one cdrw a master, and the other cdrw a slave. for the system with one burner, i'll make the cdrw master, the dvd a slave, and the hdd will have its own channel. what do you think?

quote:Originally posted by Klashe:
[QUOTE]Originally posted by Satan's Cheerleader:
[b]so what would be the best solution? get a mobo with 4 ide channels? how do most of you have yours configured?
Most consumer boards only have two channels. But allow 2 devices on each.

Drives have two settings: Master and Slave. Use this setup ( "----->" means cable)

IDE CHANNEL 1 ---> Hard Drive---->CDRW1
___________________(Master)_______(Slave)

IDE CHANNEL 2 --->DVD_ROM--------->CD-RW2
__________________(Master)_________(Slave)

Everything should work then.

wont doing all this slow down the HD it self , and the 2 CDRW'S on the same IDE channel?, or the slow down is innoticible?

quote:Originally posted by akbar:
wont doing all this slow down the HD it self , and the 2 CDRW'S on the same IDE channel?, or the slow down is innoticible?

Any way he does it, the HDD is going to be sharing with something..as the slower CD-R is probably not going to be used as much, that's the way I would set it up.
Btw, congratulations on your upcoming genetic shark

To give each device it's own full channel you need to add PCI IDE interface card - that should give you another two channels..

Also, you might want to pay attention to the fact that most burners don't like to be set as slaves. Many will only work if they are master. I suggest you get a RAID mobo and use as many channels as you need, allowing burners to be master if they have to.

how do most of you have yours set up? hard drive on its own channel, and dvd+cdrw on another?

would having a device on the same channel as the hard drive slow the hd down any?

I've got two hd in RAID0, plus DVD, sparq drive, and CDRW on the 2 non-RAID channels.

So:
IDE1 -> HD1 - master
IDE2 -> HD2 - master
IDE3 -> DVD - master, Sparq - slave.
IDE4 -> CDRW - master

Think that's how it is anyway.

The thing to consider is what drives you are going to use when. For example, if you use the burner and burn files from your hd use different channels for these two.
If you plan to rip using DVD as source drive than DVD and CDRW should be on separate channels.

Typically though hd's are set as master and optical as slave.
Though I would put 2 hd on one channel and 2 opticals on the other so at least one CDRW can be master.

i'll only be using both cdrw's at the same time when i'm dual burning. so maybe i should have it like this?

ide1 -> HD Master, dvd-rom slave
ide2 -> cdrw1 master, cdrw2 slave

will i be able to use the dvd-rom as a source disc copying to both cdrw's concurrently if it's configured like this?

With IDE, you will get reduced performance when accessing all those drives simultaneously regardless of how you configure them. My recommendation would be to go with a single CDRW unless you have the cash to lay out for an SCSI setup. If you really must have two IDE burners (I assume you intend to do a very large amount of burning to justify buying two), then get a motherboard with onboard RAID & put each drive on it's own channel. If you go the onboard RAID route and you must buy now however, you'll have to get an AMD760 board as there aren't any KT266A or SiS 735 boards with onboard RAID available as of yet.

quote:Originally posted by Satan's Cheerleader:
i'll only be using both cdrw's at the same time when i'm dual burning. so maybe i should have it like this?

ide1 -> HD Master, dvd-rom slave
ide2 -> cdrw1 master, cdrw2 slave

will i be able to use the dvd-rom as a source disc copying to both cdrw's concurrently if it's configured like this?

That's exactly how I have mine set up. I use the dvd to read the images and either the hp or the philips to burn depending on what protection *cough cough* well you know what I mean. Having the burner on a different IDE cable from your source drive will make "bruning on the fly" more problem free. I have no probs at all with them set up this way.

*edit: to answer your question. I don't think you'll be able to burn simultaneously but I've never tried it. I heard Nero allows multiple simultaneous burns but never tried it.

quote:Originally posted by kenrippy:
That's exactly how I have mine set up. I use the dvd to read the images and either the hp or the philips to burn depending on what protection *cough cough* well you know what I mean. Having the burner on a different IDE cable from your source drive will make "bruning on the fly" more problem free. I have no probs at all with them set up this way.

*edit: to answer your question. I don't think you'll be able to burn simultaneously but I've never tried it. I heard Nero allows multiple simultaneous burns but never tried it.

I was under the impression he wanted to burn with both CDRWs simultaneously. If he wants to just use one or the other then I agree that would be the best way to set it up (assuming one of the CDRWs will accept being a slave).

quote:Originally posted by Snare:
I was under the impression he wanted to burn with both CDRWs simultaneously. If he wants to just use one or the other then I agree that would be the best way to set it up (assuming one of the CDRWs will accept being a slave).

yes, i want to be able to burn with both cdrw's simultaneously. i want to be able to use the dvd-rom or hd as the source, and burn two copies at the same time.

quote:Originally posted by Satan's Cheerleader:
yes, i want to be able to burn with both cdrw's simultaneously. i want to be able to use the dvd-rom or hd as the source, and burn two copies at the same time.

In that case, you'd be ideally suited to an SCSI setup, but if you can't afford that, at least get a RAID motherboard so you can put all the drives you will need to have active simultaneously on separate channels. I really don't know what kind of results you'll get trying to burn with 3-4 IDE drives running simultaneously. I also hope you're getting a decent PSU.

If you're interested in the SCSI route, you can get a Ultra160 SCSI controller card for about $150 and a pair of 16x SCSI burners for about $110 each.

quote:Originally posted by Snare:
In that case, you'd be ideally suited to an SCSI setup, but if you can't afford that, at least get a RAID motherboard so you can put all the drives you will need to have active simultaneously on separate channels. I really don't know what kind of results you'll get trying to burn with 3-4 IDE drives running simultaneously. I also hope you're getting a decent PSU.

If you're interested in the SCSI route, you can get a Ultra160 SCSI controller card for about $150 and a pair of 16x SCSI burners for about $110 each.

i'm adding one more ide drive than a typical setup. how hard can this really be.

It's hard because you have 3 devices that want to be set as master (if not 4), and most motherboards only have two IDE channels...

Therefore, get a RAID motherboard and you'll be good to go!

how do you configure it with 3 ide devices? hdd, cdrw, dvd. make the dvd slave to the hdd?

hey, is it better to get a raid mobo even if you're just gonna have a hdd, dvd, and 1 cdrw so each device can have its own ide channel? or is it fine to make the dvd-rom slave on the same channel as the hdd.

I would make the DVD slave to the hd, but it depends (see above).
And yes it is always better to have everything on its own channel, just not always practical or possible.

in most common systems is the dvd/cd-rom typically slaved to the same channel as the hdd?

I'd say typically yes, but it really doesn't matter much.
Again, the idea is to put the drives being used together on different channels regardless what they are.

Unless your DVD manufacturer specifies that the device needs to be master, you would be fine with a setup of IDE1 with HDD master and DVD as slave, IDE2 with CDRW as master

i'm gonna take the plunge and see how this works.

ide1 master hdd
ide1 slave dvd
ide2 master cdrw
ide2 slave cdrw

i'll only be using both cdrw's when i'm making 2 copies with either the hdd or dvd as the source. i'll post my results when i've completed the task.

I don't think you'll be able to burn simultaneously, but you give it a try. Time will tell