2 hdds and 1 optical

[wahoyaho]

how should i lay it out for best performance?

2hdds on 1 channel and the optical on the other? or what??

 

[iSkylla]

The HDs on the Primary IDE channel and the optical on the second. Always.

 

[ZacharyS]

What if your drives are SATA, do you still connect the optical to secondary?

 

[iSkylla]

No, you can do primary then.

 

[DeathFromBelow]

There is no primary and secondary channel with SATA, each device needs a seperate cable and SATA port.

With IDE, you should always seperate the hard drives and the optical drives for best performance. You should also be using an 80 pin cable for the hard drives.