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Thread ID: 65154	2006-01-09 10:38:00	IDE drives & BIOS setting	paulmb (9572)	Press F1

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
419419	2006-01-09 10:38:00	Can anyone help or offer advice on an IDE drive and BIOS setting matter? I have had a Wintel PC running for about 2 years and have only just taken a close look at the BIOS settings (it's a intel 3Ghz CPU running on an ASUS P4P800 motherboard). I have two hard drives, both seagate - 1 x 40GB and 1 x 80GB (I installed the 80GB hard drive myself). The BIOS settings show the following: Primary IDE Master [not detected] Secondary IDE Master [not detected] Third IDE Master [ST340810A] Third IDA Slave [ST380011A] Fourth IDE Master [DVD Drive] Fourth IDE Slave [not detected] The question is "is this right?". It doesn't look right, however the system has been functioning fine for nearly two years now. I checked the jumper settings, and the main or boot drive is jumpered to "master", and the second drive is jumpered to "cable select". Any views? Does it present any issues? Should I just leave it as is? PaulMB	paulmb (9572)
419420	2006-01-09 10:58:00	Try and place one Hard drive onto the primary master. So that the arrangment is sort of on the line of... Primary: HDD1 Secondary: HDD2 Tertiary: Optical drive Set them all as master via pin settings and physical cable connection if nesscary. A benefit of having the HDD's on two separate channels is that you could use the secondary as a swap file drive which theoretically speed up the main hdd since the first drive will never be used for Swap system and OS reading. Also make sure in the Bios that the hdd configurations are set to disable the slave drives since they will never be used. Edit: Oh, and welcome to PressF1 :D	bob_doe_nz (92)
419421	2006-01-09 18:19:00	Thanks Bob. I currently have the optical drive connected on the secondary IDE interface by itself (there doesn't appear to be a physical third or fourth IDE connection, which is why I was puzzled over the BIOS settings). Given this, would I be advised to connect the HDD's as master on the primary and secondary IDE connections, and run the optical as a slave on one or other? PaulMB	paulmb (9572)
419422	2006-01-09 18:52:00	It probably has third and fourth cause it has RAID. If it works then leave it, like you said - its been happy for ages. So why worry?	pctek (84)
419423	2006-01-09 19:54:00	Cheers Thanks for your help... paulmb	paulmb (9572)
419424	2006-01-09 20:34:00	3rd and 4th Master are for SATA . They're only Master . They dont have slaves . I have the same mobo . The BIOS has Primary IDE Master " Slave - These are for IDE Hard drives . Secondary Master " Slave - These are for IDE DVD should be on either secondary master or slave . I've got my on Master . Third IDE Master - For SATA Fourth IDE Master - For SATA . (3rd and fourth master can be 2 SATA hdd's) . They dont have to be in RAID to work) . Putting something on cable select doesnt always work .	Speedy Gonzales (78)
419425	2006-01-09 20:56:00	"If it ain't broke, don't fix it." It's unusual for a motherboard to have four IDE headers; I agree that it probably the SATA channels. Traditionally the "first" IDE header goes to the hard drive with the primary boot partition, and it's set to master, but it's not etched in stone. I was thinking that perhaps certain IRQ's may be set for certain channels, but again what's right is what works. It doesn't look right, however the system has been functioning fine for nearly two years now.	kingdragonfly (309)
419426	2006-01-09 22:40:00	"If it ain't broke, don't fix it . " It's unusual for a motherboard to have four IDE headers; . I've seen tons of them with 4 IDE . . . . just not as common now that sata is around .	pctek (84)
419427	2006-01-10 04:23:00	4 IDE and 4 IDE are 2 different things. very rare to get 4 IDE headers (which = 8 IDE) on home pc boards (excludeing raid arrays).	tweak'e (69)
419428	2006-01-10 04:37:00	But the safest course of action is: If you don't like what you see in the BIOS of the working system, don't look. :D	Graham L (2)
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