Are all CD-ROMS are ATA-33?

[cullam3n]

I just noticed when I boot up my CD-Drive is ATA-33... Is that normal?

-PC

 

[repo man11]

Yes. There was just a thread about CDROM speeds, and evidently it has to do with the limitations on rotating speed imposed by the CD itself. So don't waste an ATA-100 cable on it.

 

[Maximouse]

I just noticed when I boot up my CD-Drive is ATA-33... Is that normal?

-PC

I have an earlier model that is ata33 but both my RW drives are PIO. I guess it depends on the Manufacturer.

Al

 

[james.miller]

well you may havea software problem there maximouse - im sure no cd-writers purposly run on pio. i know mine runs ata

 

[Maximouse]

well you may havea software problem there maximouse - im sure no cd-writers purposly run on pio. i know mine runs ata

I'll check it out, thanks
Al

 

[Tipycol]

Yes. There was just a thread about CDROM speeds, and evidently it has to do with the limitations on rotating speed imposed by the CD itself. So don't waste an ATA-100 cable on it.

How do I know the speed of my ATA cable?

 

[james.miller]

ata 33 cables have 40 thick wires. ata 100 cables have 80 thinner wires

 

[Tipycol]

ata 33 cables have 40 thick wires. ata 100 cables have 80 thinner wires

K Thanks

 

[cullam3n]

It'll usally say on the black text on the outside portion of the wire.

-PC

 

[FTC]

james.miller,

Sorry to disagree, but there are quite a few cdrws that do not support ATA-33.... Specially LGs ones. some of them work in MW DMA mode, and not UDMA. I have had 3 of them (a 8080B, a 8320B and a 8480B), and only the 8480B does support ATA-33.

Regards
FTC

 

[Balzlak]

Anyone know if they are going to switch CD-ROMs to SATA style? Cause I think it would be odd to have some SATA and some PATA drives...

 

[Maximouse]

well you may havea software problem there maximouse - im sure no cd-writers purposly run on pio. i know mine runs ata

Well, guess what...Both my LG rw drives are running PIO mode 4 in the Bios. I have UDMA enabled on both machines, but the drives are only Mode 4.

It was worth checking out anyway

 

[james.miller]

Ultra dma is just a name - Ultra dma 100 is no different from regular dma 100.

what is mw dma though, i dont know that one?

 

[FTC]

James.miller,

In general, 'dma' mode means anything that uses the available dma channels to do the data transfer.

MW DMA mode is multi-word DMA mode, which is using the PC DMA channel in multi word mode (which means that the host DMA controller can program large transfers, nothing more). From the device (i.e hd) point of view, this modes are no different from PIO modes. Of course CPU utilization is less.

UDMA or UATA modes specify a complete protocol to take ownership of the bus, and to do the transfers (incidentally, also using the PC dma channels). In this case the hdd has to know and acknowledge how to manage the mode. It is a step forward and a standarization over MW dma modes, plus making more efficient use of the transfer cycles.

It is my understanding that UDMA is better than just MW DMA mode.

In my case :
My LG 8080B and 8320B could use PIO mode or MW DMA mode. Windows 2K identifies it as 'dma mode' in device manager.
My LG 8480B uses UDMA2 and windows identifies it as 'udma mode' besides, it consumes less cpu than the previous ones, even when writing a lot faster.
My hard disks use UDMA5 and windows identifies them as 'udma' also, mot making distinctions (but I can verify the mode with 'dtemp').



Regards
FTC

 

[OC-Master]

You should always use Ultra DMA (ATA-33) if available to you. Ulta DMA removes the strain from the CPU by allowing the hard drive to access the system memory without have to completely directly pass through the CPU it self. By by-passing the CPU calculations, no CPU performance is lost and in result can boost your PCs performance greatly.

Any CD-Rom which was 40X or greator would have Ultra DMA capabilities.

CD Burners with writing speeds of 16X or greator MUST have DMA enabled to allow for safe burning.

Today, you should only be using 80-pin wire and stay clear of the old 40-pin stuff. Even on older hard drives, you can gain a little performance just from switching over from 40 to 80-pin wire.


OC-Master

 

[FTC]

Hi,

Just for the record, found this table about different DMA/UDMA modes :

DMA Mode 1 11.1 MB/s 40-pin IDE 40-pin No
Multi-word DMA Mode 1 13.3 MB/s 40-pin IDE 40-pin No
Multi-word DMA Mode 2 16.6 MB/s 40-pin IDE 40-pin No
Ultra ATA Mode 2 33.3 MB/s 40-pin IDE 40-pin Yes
Ultra ATA Mode 3 44.4 MB/s 40-pin IDE 80-pin Yes
Ultra ATA Mode 4 66.6 MB/s 40-pin IDE 80-pin Yes
Ultra ATA Mode 5 100 MB/s 40-pin IDE 80-pin Yes
Ultra ATA Mode 6 133 MB/s 40-pin IDE 80-pin Yes

Regards
FTC