which config better for adobe premiere pro

[keel]

i have got 2 hdd and a dvd burner

one 80gb seagate 7200rpm
one 4gb quantum 5400rpm
one lg multi dvd-burner

qn: how should i configure (primary/secondary and master/slave) them in my pc for optimum performance.

the difficult question: is it better to just use one fast hdd as the only hdd in the system (for both program and scratch/swap use) or use an additional slow (5400rpm) hdd as the scratch disk?

life is just confusing, isnt it?

[Rick]

I would leave the 4gb out.

Partition the 80 into two or more drives
Put the hdd and the cd on their own ide channel
ie: both as master
one on ide-0 the other on ide-1

When you setup adobe set the d: as the scratch drive

[keel]

would i benefit if i just use the 4gb hdd as a xp swap disk? or would it actually result in an overall decrease in performance cos it would be relatively slower to access the swap files?

[Paleo Pete]

I have to go with Rick's suggestion, I'd leave the 4GB drive out altogether and partition the larger one into two or more drives. Placing the swap file on a different partition will help performance a little, but it won't be noticable.

Using the older drive will probably limit you to a 40 conductor cable, which might not work at all on the 80 GB drive, (but should) and will also have a noticable performance decrease due to the slower access time, earlier ATA33 drive format and smaller cacheing ability (buffer? I'm hazy on that issue.). The entire IDE channel will be limited to ATA 33.

[malcore]

I am going to disagree a little bit. Even though 4 Gb is a pittance these days, why waste it? It can be used to store downloads, documents, whatever. 4Gb is 4Gb.

I do agree not to use it for the swap space.

While using a 40 conductor cable will limit an ATA 66/100/133 drive to ATA33, there is NO reason one cannot use an 80 conductor cable and mix an ATA33 drive with an ATA66/100/133 drive. Both will operate at their optimum speed. In fact, I feel it is a good idea to always use an 80 conductor cable no matter what ATA spec the drives are.

I say use the 4Gb drive as a slave, purely for a little extra storage, and make sure you use an 80 conductor cable.

[keel]

now this would be a really stupid qn from me.

i always thought a ide cable is a ide cable.
-how do you differentiate between 40 and 80 cable?

i am thinking of linking my dvd burner with the 4gb based on all the wonderful advice i've read. will use it purely as a storage.
- BUT how should i install it? as master or slave to the dvd burner?

last stupid question: what does ultra ata mean? is it ata-33 or 66 or 100?

anyway, the drive is a quantum fireball se 4gb with some bad sectors.
specs as shown:

ultra ata
Typical Seek Times2 (ms)
Average 9.5
Track-to-Track 2
Full Stroke 20
Average Rotational Latency (ms) 5.56
Rotational Speed (RPM) 5,400

[malcore]

There's a lot of confusion over these terms. Ultra ATA and Ultra DMA mean basically the same thing. Currently for IDE or ATA devices, there are 4 main speed categories : Ultra ATA/33, Ultra ATA/66, Ultra ATA/100 and Ultra ATA/133. Each one has incrementally faster burst transfer rates.

I would assume that your quantum drive is Ultra ATA/33.

40 conductor and 80 conductor cables both have connectors for 40 pins. A 40 conductor cable will only have 40 wires, whereas an 80 conductor will have 80 wires, providing better grounding and less inteference (and is required when using anything beyond Ultra ATA/33). A 40 conductor cable will look very similar to a floppy cable. The 80 conductor will look different with more and thinner wires. Pictures here (http://www.pcguide.com/ref/hdd/if/ide/confCable80-c.html).

I would set the quantum drive as slave to either the hard drive or the DVD drive.

However, if the drive has bad sectors, it will likely fail soon enough or is on its last legs. In this case, I wouldn't use it at all.

[sia]

Hi

I think it`s better to use the 80 GB for both System and A/V
and leave 4 GB HDD for other data because it`s slow and small for
A/V drive.