PATA Connections

[DavidGzz]

Hello
Currently I have 3 PATA Devices, a 250 gig WD Hard Drive, a DVD Reader, and a DVD Writer. I know with the PATA cables only one device can be used at a time, so I was wondering what was the best way of connecting them Since my mobo only has 2 PATA connectors. I was thinking on one Connecting the Hard Drive as Master, and my DVD reader as slave, and on the second channel connect the DVD Writer. This way I could burn data from both the hard drive and my DVD Reader instantly. I was wondering if there are any other or better ways of doing this, and if there are ways to add PATA Channels to a mobo.

Thanks in Advance
-Davidgzz

[moz_21]

You actually want the hard drives seperate from the optical drives. Put the opticals on the secondary channel, hdds on the primary.

The technical reason is that when you are reading from a master drive on the primary, data goes to the mobo. Then you're trying to burn a disk to the slave drive on the primary channel, effectively halving the bandwidth. Reading from the primary channel and writing to the secondary channel allows full bandwidth. Something like that, I'm not too good at explaining stuff sometimes. :)

[DavidGzz]

Hmm, thats a good point! I hadnt considered that. The only problem I see is when copying a CD/DVD directly from one drive to the other, it would be pretty slow, since they are on the same channel... Any way to overcome this?

[Quailane]

Hmm, thats a good point! I hadnt considered that. The only problem I see is when copying a CD/DVD directly from one drive to the other, it would be pretty slow, since they are on the same channel... Any way to overcome this?

Go with your original plan. You were right in thinking that the HD as master and the DVD reader as slave on a single channel and the dvd writer on another was the way to go.

[moz_21]

Go with your original plan. You were right in thinking that the HD as master and the DVD reader as slave on a single channel and the dvd writer on another was the way to go.

Ah, DVD reader. I missed that part. Quailane is right then, as are you. Although I feel that having modern drives (an optical and hdd) on a single channel doesn't really effect the speeds between the two. I've just always put the optical drives on secondary and hdds on the primary channels. Copying (large) files between two hdds on the same channel is another story though.

<3 SATA.

[DavidGzz]

Thank you both for clearing it out! I am lookign foreward to buying a SATA Hard Drive, however since I just purchased a new case and videocard, that will have to hold :(

[Quailane]

Thank you both for clearing it out! I am lookign foreward to buying a SATA Hard Drive, however since I just purchased a new case and videocard, that will have to hold :(

Yeah, SATA is the answer to all those problems. :santa: