Properly setting up a IDE CD-Writer

November 7, 1999

Question:

I have 2 hard drives and two cd roms...one is a burner.IDE1 has a harddrive and my 44x cd rom on it.IDE2 has another harddrive and my burner on it.When i burn something...i always get errors from the burner...but the discs seem to work.I used to run the burner alone with a single harddrive and never had such problems....I am wondering if my burner should be placed on IDE1 or should both cd roms be on IDE2.Does either configuration make a performance difference?

Answer:

As you know, all standard PC computers come equiped with two IDE connectors, located on your motherboard. Each of these connectors are capable of controlling any two Integrated Drive Electronics (IDE) devices (such as hard drives, cd roms, zip drives, etc...), simply by connecting an IDE cable that has 1 connector on one end and 2 on the other, for a total of four possible drives (as you currently have).

However, it is not possible to connect two different kind of devices to the connector with the hard drive (hence to the same IDE cable), since they don't communicate to the motherboard in exactly the same way or at the same speed. Perhaps you have just proven that it is possible, since your CD Writer sort of worked, however as you have noticed it is not the best idea. IDE 1 is therefore usually reserved for hard drives and IDE 2 for cd-rom drives, zip drives, cd writers, etc... You should therefore connect both of your hard drives to IDE 1, and both your CD Rom drives to IDE 2. (do this by simply switching around the cables inside your computer).

Although IDE 1 is refered to as the Primary IDE Controller, and IDE 2 as the Secondary IDE Controller, this does not imply that IDE 2 is slower then IDE 1. All drives will therefore have the same performance, regardless of what IDE Controller they are connected to.