Sata2+IDE HD+DVDROM = Less performance?

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Limp Gawd
Joined
Sep 11, 2005
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196
Hello all,
i have a very quick question.

At the moment i have a Sata2 HD, on the IDE connection i have only the DVD ROM.
I want to add a 2nd HD, this is IDE, so it will share the Same DVD ROm connection.

If i share my IDE connection (DVD ROM) connection with a 2nd HD it will reduce my performance? how much?

Thanks.,
 
In theory it could make your HD run at a lower DMA mode than it would normally, ie if the DVD-ROM only supports ATA33 then your HDD would be forced to run in that mode. That doesn't happen a lot nowadays but it can still happen.

Also you could suffer reduced performance with that hard drive while you are burning and/or reading a disc in the DVD drive.
 
When you mix hard drives and cdroms on an IDE interface, you have the potential to slow down hard drive access. I took a quick look on my system, that has a very recent DVD drive and an Ultra133 hard drive sharing the only IDE connector. Under Device Manager for the IDE controller, both drives were set to autodetect DMA mode . The DVD drive was currently reading as Mode 4 (Ultra33), and the hard drive is detected as Mode 6 (Ultra100.) It was my understanding, and this Wiki ATA Article somewhat confirms is that when the hard drive was using the bus alone, it would work at Ultra133 mode. But whenever the DVD was using the bus, both devices would slow to Ultra66 speed.

Don
 
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