FUN! An IDE bus question!

  • Thread starter Thread starter Slackmaster2K
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Slackmaster2K

Slackmaster2K

Gone
Hmm...I have no idea. You'll have to look that up in your motherboard manual...or just try it.

I'm going to guess that Boot from CD will try the first CDROM drive it finds.

Slackmaster 2000
 
I think you're right. My little bro just emailed me and said that I can set this in the BIOS and that it doesn't matter if its a master or slave.

Man, I never expected to get answers this fast. You've been great, thanks!
 
I've pored over everything I can find in the newsgroups and other places regarding this issue, but I still need a little help. I've got a WD 8GB HD that has been a great Cake Walk drive for several years. I finally upgraded to a new box (PIII 550, DVD-ROM, Win98 on the 15GB TriGem Samsung HD [anyone heard of this drive?]).

I want to format the 8GB WD HD and use it as a second drive for audio. I also want to add my CDRW from the old box. Here are the questions: The new box has 2 IDE buses, as usual. What goes where--HD's on same bus, master/slave, or hard drives as masters on each bus with CDRW and DVD-ROM as slaves?

Another Q: Do I install CW on the second (audio) drive, or should it go on the OS drive and just point to a WaveData directory on the audio drive? Where do I put my plug-ins for optimal power?

I know also to format FAT32 with the z/32 or z/64 switch, but is there anything else I need to keep in mind?

I know alot of this has been discussed extensively but I'm still confused. Your help is greatly appreciated!

-RNT
 
Hey, I can answer some of these...

the bus question: in my experience, it really doesn't matter, but I usually will put HD's as masters, and CD drives as slaves... but putting HD's on one bus and CD's on the other works as well.

And it shouldn't matter where you install CW and where you keep the files, so keeping CW on the main drive is fine.

-stranger233
 
Yes, what you make master and slave, and what bus you use for what is not really too big of a deal at all.

Cakewalk likes to install on the same physical drive as your OS. Let it.

Once Cakewalk is running, most of the app is in RAM, so not really an issue about the OS wanting to go back to Cakewalk for info while it is doing a process.

But, where you have temp files, and also where the .wav files you are working on, and how the OS likes to do other things in the background can be an issue.

Here is a decent solution. Install OS, Cakewalk on primary drive. Record to the other drive. Create temp files on drive other then where the.wav files are stored (basically on the same drive as Cakewalk, just use a different folder). There you go. Also, save the new files that were processed on the same drive that the original .wavs were on. Basically, it is going to transfer the temp file one on drive to a permanent file on the other drive. A fast process.

Man, there are so many issues here, as there always is with hard drive recording.

Oh yeah, let the plugin's install where they default to. I have always had luck this way, but when I have tried other directories, have had problems. Usually the plugs will list themselves with any software that use them without any problem. If they don't, well, there are probably some issues that a software patch deals with. Check all the vendors sites for these issues.

Ed
 
Thanks guys. Sonusman, I don't have CW in front of me, but I don't recall a temp directory being needed. Also, I'm confused about this: "Also, save the new files that were processed on the same drive that the original .wavs were on." Could you explain this?

I really appreciate y'alls help!
 
Ok,

First of all, many CDRW's prefer to be masters. I would recommend trying it as a slave however...read on...

Second, the rule of thumb is: seperate devices that will work together. That is, if you're going to be using two hard drives at the same time, stick them on seperate channels. Remember, a master and slave can't be on the line at the same time, and have to wait for one another.

Also note that regardless of how much memory you have, Windows is still going to use a pagefile (virtual memory).

So, if hard drive performance is what you're after, I'd recommend:

Channel 0 Master: 15GB Samsung
Channel 0 Slave: CDRW
Channel 1 Master: 8GB audio drive
Channel 1 Slave: DVDROM

Why? The hard drive that your applications are on is seperate from your audio drive. This will minimize any negative paging effects. Plus most of the CDR's you'll burn will be from files on the audio drive, and the CDRW is on a seperate channel which will maximimze throughput. Finally, your DVD drive is seperate from your main drive which will provide optimal playback performance.

Note: I'd check the specs on that samsung. Chances are it's a 7200RPM drive and might be a better performer than your old drive. In that case, leave the setup as is but swap the drives.

Slackmaster 2000
 
Regs, all software create some kind of temp file so that an undo can be accomplished. when you do any processing, the new processed version is made into a new file so that the original is not ever really changed. you can of course elect to save the new version over the original, but this is not usually a good practice because if you find later that your edit, or processing is not to your liking you cannot try something else because the original.wav file is not available, it was rewritten by the processed file.

Cakewalk may call it something other then a Temp file, but it will serve the same purpose. It may be something lik the Undo file, or whatever. It would pay that you find out how Cakewalk stores the edited/processed versions so that you can make sure to put that directory on a different physical drive.

About saving a new file. when you open a .wav, edit, process, etc....you now have a modified .wav file that needs to be saved. Since this file is created as some kind of temp file, if you configure your software to create temp files on another drive from the original .wav, it is really at that point just a matter of the new .wav being transferred to a new file on another drive (the one with the original .wav). You could of course just save it on the same drive as the temp file is on, but, this is hard to keep track of as you will now have .wav files all over the place. But hey, I am getting more into data management, which can vary depending upon your preferences.

Ed
 
Wow, this is great! Thanks Sonusman, I see what you're saying.

Slackmaster you raise a point I've already thought about re. speed of the new disk. If I do make it the slave on that bus, though, won't I need to make it the audio drive and make the old drive (the 8GB, which will now be the master on that bus) the OS drive, or does that matter? I thought (assumed, actually) that the OS had to be on a drive that is the master.
Thanks!
 
If you load your OS and applications on the 8GB drive and use the 15GB drive for audio then:

Just swap the drives. Use the exact same configuration I posted, but stick the 8GB as the primary master and the 15GB as the secondary master!

(note that I never said to configure a hard drive as a slave)

Yes the boot drive has to be master, and in many cases has to be on the primary channel. Some controllers will use either channel to boot...but I'd recommend keeping things standard.

Slackmaster 2000
 
You're right, sorry I misread that. I'll definitely look into your solution. I've had good luck with the 8GB HD, and since the new 15GB HD is an unknown quantity (i.e not a Quantum, WD, or Maxtor, which all get good reviews) *AND* since I've already got a fair amount of stuff on the new drive, I may see how well things work out with formatting the old drive and just using it as the audio drive, at least for awhile. I can always get a Maxtor 20GB to put in its place later.

You guys have been super! I'll keep coming back and maybe I can help someone else here one day!

-Reqs
 
One other question SM2K. For emergency booting purposes does one of my CDROM drives need to be the master, or will it still work for that purpose as a slave?
 
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