Sata & Pata drives

  • Thread starter Thread starter Guest
  • Start date Start date
G

Guest

Hello, I'm getting a new system with a 200gb sata drive, I still have 20 and
30 gb pata drives. Is it possible to still have uses for the pata drives as
storage meduims? Or is it a waste of time, and just stick with the 200gb sata.
 
The PATA drives could be used for the swap file, temp files, etc thereby
making things run a bit faster.
 
Trace said:
Hello, I'm getting a new system with a 200gb sata drive, I still have 20 and
30 gb pata drives. Is it possible to still have uses for the pata drives as
storage meduims? Or is it a waste of time, and just stick with the 200gb sata.
Click to expand...

Sure. Make sure that the new motherboard has the IDE headers for them
since most of the newer motherboards are being equipped with only 1 IDE
header instead of 2. And there are not that many makes of SATA DVD drives
that are on the market at this time. Of course, an add-in IDE card for
the PATA drives is also feasible but the number of PCI slots are also
being decreased in newer motherboards.
 
Actually from a photo of the mobo there are 4 SATA connections and 2 IDE
connections. So they could be hooked up with no conflicts? Being that they
are two different interfaces, what should the jumper settings be set to on
the IDE drive(s)
 
Trace said:
Actually from a photo of the mobo there are 4 SATA connections and 2 IDE
connections. So they could be hooked up with no conflicts? Being that they
are two different interfaces, what should the jumper settings be set to on
the IDE drive(s)
Click to expand...

Since you are going to install and boot off the S-ATA hard drive,
there is probably not an issue of whether or not a special driver
is needed for one of the two IDE headers. It pays to download the
complete motherboard manual. For example, in one particular ASUS
motherboard, the primary IDE connector ran off the Intel driver
whilst the second IDE connector needed the Marvell drivers. The
proper cables to use and jumpering should be mentioned in the manual.
 
Trace said:
Actually from a photo of the mobo there are 4 SATA connections and 2 IDE
connections. So they could be hooked up with no conflicts? Being that they
are two different interfaces, what should the jumper settings be set to on
the IDE drive(s)
Click to expand...


Trace:
Since you plan to use your two relatively small-capacity PATA HDDs as
secondary drives for storage (and possibly backup purposes I would
suppose) - from a performance point-of-view - as a practical matter it
probably will make no difference how you connect them in terms of which IDE
channel each will be connected to or to their Master/Slave relationships.

You didn't indicate what other IDE devices you will be connecting. I suppose
you will be installing one or two optical drives, right? Again, it probably
will make no difference how one or two of those devices are connected to
either IDE channel as Master or Slave. If you will be installing only one
optical drive it's a virtual certainty it will make no difference
performance-wise as to which IDE channel the device is connected and whether
it's connected as Master or Slave.

Now I must add that on rare occasions we *have* run into a very few
situations where it *did* matter whether two optical drives (presumably
being used for direct CD-to-CD or DVD-to-DVD disk copying functions) were
connected on the same or different IDE channels. Strangely enough in some
situations better, i.e., faster disk-copying performance was obtained if the
two devices were connected on the same IDE channel; in other cases speed
performance was enhanced when the two devices were connected on different
IDE channels. We never encountered any significant performance difference
based upon their Master/Slave relationships.
Anna
 
Anna said:
Trace:
Since you plan to use your two relatively small-capacity PATA HDDs as
secondary drives for storage (and possibly backup purposes I would
suppose) - from a performance point-of-view - as a practical matter it
probably will make no difference how you connect them in terms of which
IDE > channel each will be connected to or to their Master/Slave
relationships.

You didn't indicate what other IDE devices you will be connecting. I
suppose you will be installing one or two optical drives, right? Again, it
probably will make no difference how one or two of those devices are
connected to either IDE channel as Master or Slave. If you will be
installing only one optical drive it's a virtual certainty it will make no
difference performance-wise as to which IDE channel the device is
connected and whether > it's connected as Master or Slave.

Now I must add that on rare occasions we *have* run into a very few
situations where it *did* matter whether two optical drives (presumably
being used for direct CD-to-CD or DVD-to-DVD disk copying functions) were
some situations better, i.e., faster disk-copying performance was obtained
if the two devices were connected on the same IDE channel; in other cases
speed performance was enhanced when the two devices were connected on
different IDE channels. We never encountered any significant performance
difference based upon their Master/Slave relationships.
Anna
Click to expand...


Trace:
ADDENDUM...

I neglected to include my usual caveat when discussing this issue of how one
should connect IDE devices, so here it is...

Experiment for yourself in determining the precise configuration of your IDE
devices. In this instance don't rely on my advice or anyone else's advice.
Try different configurations of your IDE devices and run simple speed tests
based on your normal & usual day-to-day activities with the computer, e.g.,
accessing programs, moving/copying files, burning CDs, etc. See if you can
determine any performance difference depending upon how this or that device
is connected, and thus determine the best setup for your particular needs
should there be any significant differences.
Anna
 
Anna,
Yes, I am going to connect a DVD-Rom as I have opted to have the new
computer just come with a CDR/W, I also have an external DVD burner, I have
not figured on what to do with just yet. I currently have a CDR/W, and DVD
Rom set up, and an enclosed DVD burner on usb connection. At the moment that
would be all that I would be connecting.
 
Back
Top