This question is not directly related to SuSE but since I'm using SuSE 8.2 I'm hoping there are users on this list who are knowledgeable about hardware. The table below shows my present and proposed drive setup. IDE Mast/Slave Present Proposed 1 Master 80G HD 80G HD 1 Slave 40G HD CDROM 2 Master CDROM 40G HD 2 Slave ZIP Drive Zip Drive 3 Master CDRW CDRW My present setup has the two Hard Drives on the First IDE as Master/Slave. I currently use SuSE on the 80G HD and use the 40G HD as storage. I'm installing a second version of SuSE onto the 40G HD and will use both versions from time to time. Does it make any difference in performance if the HD is Master or Slave. Would I get better performance from the 40G HD if it were mounted as Master on the Second IDE? Thanks, Terry
The Friday 2004-04-09 at 17:59 -0000, terry_eck@comcast.net wrote:
Does it make any difference in performance if the HD is Master or Slave. Would I get better performance from the 40G HD if it were mounted as Master on the Second IDE?
It shouldn't. However, in my case, if I connect the HD and the CDrom on the same cable, the HD is slower, it drops to udma2 instead of udma5 (because the cdrom only suports udma2, I think). So, you should try diferent setups - you can boot the rescue system from the CD in each case - and check what hdparm -i /dev/hd? says. -- Cheers, Carlos Robinson
On Friday 09 April 2004 19:08, Carlos E. R. wrote:
The Friday 2004-04-09 at 17:59 -0000, terry_eck@comcast.net wrote:
Does it make any difference in performance if the HD is Master or Slave. Would I get better performance from the 40G HD if it were mounted as Master on the Second IDE?
It shouldn't. However, in my case, if I connect the HD and the CDrom on the same cable, the HD is slower, it drops to udma2 instead of udma5 (because the cdrom only suports udma2, I think).
So, you should try diferent setups - you can boot the rescue system from the CD in each case - and check what hdparm -i /dev/hd? says.
-- Cheers, Carlos Robinson
Also ...... tak einto consideration the filesystem that will be mounted on the appropriate hard drives. Be sure to put the most accessed directories/partitions at the beginning of the drives. HTH.
Thanks Carlos and Thomas. Seems like my present setup is best since I will only be using either /dev/hda or /dev/hdb depending on the version of SuSE, the unused drive will be sleeping except for backup at night. Terry Thomas Jones wrote:
On Friday 09 April 2004 19:08, Carlos E. R. wrote:
So, you should try diferent setups - you can boot the rescue system from the CD in each case - and check what hdparm -i /dev/hd? says.
Be sure to put the most accessed directories/partitions at the beginning of the drives.
-- SuSE Linux 8.2 (i586) ---- 2.4.20-4GB-athlon --- Fri 04/09/04 21:25 9:25pm up 1 day 23:44, 3 users, load average: 0.00, 0.05, 0.15 There are 10 types of people, those who know binary and those who don't
Terry Eck wrote:
Thomas Jones wrote:
On Friday 09 April 2004 19:08, Carlos E. R. wrote:
So, you should try diferent setups - you can boot the rescue system from
the CD in each case - and check what hdparm -i /dev/hd? says.
Be sure to put the most accessed directories/partitions at the beginning of the drives.
Thanks Carlos and Thomas. Seems like my present setup is best since I will only be using either /dev/hda or /dev/hdb depending on the version of SuSE, the unused drive will be sleeping except for backup at night. Terry
I've been thru this "agony" of trying to get the best performance from my HDs, CDROM/DVD and CDRW/DVDRW and after reading often conflicting or ambiguous information have deduced this: * because of the nature of the IDE system, it is not possible to simultaneously read from and write to devises on the same cable which means that if you want to get the best possible throughput between 2 HDs (like I have) then you put one as master on the first IDE port and the second as the master on the second IDE port; * HDs etc are now connected with 80-wire cables (and these have a maximum length otherwise you get data corruption thru signal bounce) and the master is connected at the END of the cable; * the master is called the master because it controls what occurs on that cable. If you put a slow device as the master all traffic on that cable will be slow on the throughput even though you have a fast device as slave, but of course if the HD at the end of the cable (master) is UDMA 100 but the slave (a CDROM or ZIP) is only 33 then communication between them will be at the slower rate anyway; * to save hassles when swapping devices around, set the jumpers to CS (cable select) rather than Master and Slave and let the BIOS recognise which is which - and whichever device is attached at the end of the cable is the Master; * unless you have a pretty old CDRW then there is no need to worry about setting it up as master on an IDE port because all new CDRWs have a buffer which prevent burn overruns and therefore the creation of 'coasters'. I had, for example, the CDROM as slave on IDE 1 and the CDRW as slave on IDE 2 writing to the CDRW from either of the (master, UDMA 100) HDs and had no problems at all. I now have the DVD and DVDRW in the same configuration, again without any problems. It may also be worthwhile to check that the UDMA is set for all your devices. Under Suse I think this is automatic but I know under 8.2 I had trouble in keeping the UDMA set. Check for the setting by going to Start Applications/System/YaST/Hardware/IDE DMA Mode and make sure that all the devices have the DMA set. I know in your case DMA seems to be set for the DVD because you get a smooth picture when watching a movie but some people don't get this and this is often caused by the DMA not being set for the DVD. Cheers. -- All Scottish food is based on a dare.
On Friday 09 April 2004 01:59 pm, terry_eck@comcast.net wrote:
This question is not directly related to SuSE but since I'm using SuSE 8.2 I'm hoping there are users on this list who are knowledgeable about hardware. The table below shows my present and proposed drive setup.
IDE Mast/Slave Present Proposed 1 Master 80G HD 80G HD 1 Slave 40G HD CDROM 2 Master CDROM 40G HD 2 Slave ZIP Drive Zip Drive 3 Master CDRW CDRW
My present setup has the two Hard Drives on the First IDE as Master/Slave. I currently use SuSE on the 80G HD and use the 40G HD as storage. I'm installing a second version of SuSE onto the 40G HD and will use both versions from time to time. Does it make any difference in performance if the HD is Master or Slave. Would I get better performance from the 40G HD if it were mounted as Master on the Second IDE?
Thanks, Terry ===============
Terry, Whatever you put on an IDE channel, the drives will fall back to the slowest speed drive. Therefore, if you put a fast HD on with a slow CD, all will run at the speed of the slowest drive. I don't usually like or recommend putting 2 hard drives on the same channel, but that arrangement is better than a HD & CD. Keep the hard drives together & the cdroms together, don't mix them. In fact, the Zip drive is probably slowing down your cdrom, if it is one of the faster units! Lee -- --- KMail v1.6.1 --- SuSE Linux Pro v9.0 --- Registered Linux User #225206 On any other day, that might seem strange...
Decided to keep the present setup. The cdrom is really a DVD drive which does not appear to be affected by the zip drive. Movies play witout problems. The zip drive is there to recover old zip disk information if needed. I thought it best to keep the CDRW on its own channel as master, I assume this is a good idea since I do not want to burn coasters. Terry BandiPat wrote:
In fact, the Zip drive is probably slowing down your cdrom, if it is one of the faster units!
Lee
-- SuSE Linux 8.2 (i586) ---- 2.4.20-4GB-athlon --- Fri 04/09/04 21:35 9:35pm up 1 day 23:54, 3 users, load average: 0.66, 0.31, 0.20 There are 10 types of people, those who know binary and those who don't
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