What is the difference between ULTRA DMA Mode and Multi-Word DMA Mode 2? I have a Sony Double Layer 16X burner. If Ultra DMA is faster how do I set to that setting?
ULTRA DMA Mode: http://www.storagereview.com/guide2000/ref/hdd/if/ide/modesUDMA.html Multi-Word DMA Mode 2 http://www.pcguide.com/ref/hdd/if/ide/modesDMA-c.html You need to have 80 conductor IDE/ATA cable: http://www.pcguide.com/ref/hdd/if/ide/confCable80-c.html
How can I check which device my burner is on? I installed a new 80 conductor IDE cable. Deleted the registry settings and rebooted. Device 0 is Ultra DMA Mode 4 but Device 1 is Multi Word DMA Mode 2
Well PVTJoker, Device 0 is the master device on the buss, so whatever is at the end connector is 0 and whatever is hooked to the middle connector is Slave/Device 1. Ive got mine backwards with the Burner as Slave and the ROM as Master. I tried it both ways and it made no difference that I could see. My normal rip times are about 12 to 15 minutes with burn times around 8 or 9 minutes at 8X with the 109 and Taiyo Yuden media.
Most mother boards only support Ultra DMA mode 4 or 5 in one IDE slot, and your looks like it is one of those boards. Your IDE 0 is the Ultra DMA slot and your IDE 1 is not. If you want your writer in Ultra DMA mode it would have to be plugged into the primary (IDE 0) Ide slot on your mobo. Here is how you need to set it up. IDE 0 - Hard drive (w/OS) set as master and plugged into the end of the IDE cable. Then DVD RW set as slave and plugged into middle of IDE cable IDE 1 - What ever else you have, example 2nd HD set as master and plugged into end of IDE cable and DVD Rom set as slave and pluged into the middle of the cable. If you only have one drive then just set it as master and plug it into the end of the IDE cable.
I made a table that compares all the different DMA settings. This way you can get an idea of what is what. Having a drive set to one type of DMA setting or another is not going to make that big of difference. Here is an example: If you are burning at 8X then that will require a certain transfer rate. As long as your transfer mode setting equals or exceeds that rate then changing to a "higher" DMA setting will make no difference. What does make a difference in some cases is that setting a transfer mode to DMA does take a lot of the load off your CPU. I've got the table here, at the bottom of the page: http://www.dvdplusvideo.com/dvd_tech.html
bbmayo Couldn't I just switch my dvd burner with the cd burner? I have 2 HD's both on the Primary IDE channel. I have 1 CD burner (master) and 1 DVD burner slave on the Secondary IDE channel. IDE 0 I am assuming is the master device on a given IDE channel. Am I correct on my statements?
IDE 0 is your IDE slot 0 in other words your Primary IDE slot where you currently have both of your hard drives hooked up. One as Master and the other as slave. IDE 1 is your other IDE slot where you currently have your CDRW set up as master and your DVDRW set as slave. There would be no difference in making your DVDRW the master on that IDE slot. To tell the truth as long as all your drives are set to DMA mode you aren't going to notice much of a difference in the two DMA modes. So you will probably be just fine the way you have it set up now. The place you might notice a little difference if you were to put your DVDRW on the IDE 0 slot is while ripping your DVD, but most burners are locked into only being able to rip around x4 speed anyway.
I couldn't agree more! I think it's time to put the screws back in the drives, make sure your cables are secure and neatly stowed in your case for good airflow, put the covers back on and burn!
I'll leave it as is then. Next time I'll pay a little more for a better motherboard. Thanks for all your help.
