Maxtor 20Gb Question

[Hawkeye4242]

I have a 7200RPM 20Gb drive, and it says ATA66. Will it run ATA133 or ATA100? Will all ATA100 drives run ATA133? Haven't paid close enough attention to IDE bus changes in the last couple years.....Thanks for the help

 

[RainMaQer]

Welcome to the Forums....

ATA66 WILL run ATA33 and 66... but not ATA100 or 133... ATA100 can run 33/66/100... but not 133.

If you mobo does 133 but the drive is only 33... it will only do 33 and no more. The IDE spec is backward compatible but not forwards.

 

[Hawkeye4242]

that's what i was afraid of....dammit. I have an Epox 8KA3+ sitting on my counter. I'll get an 80Gb ATA133. With the RAID controller, what would be the best configuration of those HDs for overall speed? Or should I just try and find a home for the 20Gb? Thanks for any help....

 

[Maddman]

you can install your ata66 drive on any ata ide connection but it won't be any faster on a ata100/ata133 connection and it will be slower on a ata33 connection.

 

[Yodums]

Maddman said it. Make sure that your performance is not degraded by an ATA33 cable (40 pins), and make sure your using an ATA66/100/133 cable. Anyways, RAID is meant to be setup with identical drives. If you already have this ATA66 drive, I'd recommend you either buy an identical drive to RAID it, or sell it and buy two new ATA100/133 7200rpm drives, for RAID.

Yodums

 

[Hawkeye4242]

I hear what you're saying....The thing is: when I do audio stuff I like to keep it on a separate HD, because it fragments drives so bad it makes it easy to just format it. Since my Epox 8KA3+ has a ATA133 connectors and RAID connectors, I thought of buying two 60Gs and RAID them, and put my OS and programs on there. Then put the 20 on the ATA133 bus (at 66Mbs) for my audio stuff. Is this nonsense do-able?