06-07-2003 15:57									#1
	Piggybacking off the primary IDE Got spare money?

Just hooked up an internal CD burner to my in-law's pc. It's been a while since I had to mess around with hardware like this, so I was wondering if anyone knows whether it will be a problem to piggyback the burner off the primary IDE controller. I have the HD set to master and the burner set to slave, and everything works ok, but the instructions "highly recommended" setting the burner to master on the secondary IDE. This thing won't have problems down the road will it?

	06-07-2003 16:00									#2
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Why don't you just place it in the secondary IDE channel?

	06-07-2003 16:03									#3
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quote: Originally posted by Provost Harrison Why don't you just place it in the secondary IDE channel?

I don't have the proper ribbons available. The one going off the secondary IDE only has one connector and I need two.

	06-07-2003 16:09									#4
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Hmmm, well the problem is that each has control of the IDE channel when it needs it excluding the other device. This could be a significant problem for a CD burner which may require a steady stream of information if interrupted by the hard drive. I would recommend getting a cable for the secondary IDE channel, they aren't particularly expensive...

	06-07-2003 16:15									#5
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quote: Originally posted by Provost Harrison Hmmm, well the problem is that each has control of the IDE channel when it needs it excluding the other device. This could be a significant problem for a CD burner which may require a steady stream of information if interrupted by the hard drive. I would recommend getting a cable for the secondary IDE channel, they aren't particularly expensive...

The thing is I've tested it and everything is working fine, I just want to make sure I won't have problems with it later on. Screwing up the in-law's computer would not be a good thing

	06-07-2003 16:41									#6
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Another IDE cable is hardly 'screwing' my good man

	06-07-2003 16:49									#7
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quote: Originally posted by Provost Harrison Another IDE cable is hardly 'screwing' my good man

True, but leaving it hooked up incorrectly would be

At the moment I am assuming that it won't be a problem seeing as everything is working. Do you know of any reason why this could become a problem later on?

	06-07-2003 16:51									#8
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My worry was with burning a CD if the computer needs to access the hard drive for some reason...

	06-07-2003 17:03									#9
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quote: Originally posted by Provost Harrison My worry was with burning a CD if the computer needs to access the hard drive for some reason...

Well, it didn't have any trouble burning files from the hard drive...

	06-07-2003 17:39									#10
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It can burn, but can it burn error free and consistently and at it's max speeds?

The reason it works sometimes, or even most of the time, is that your HD reads/writes are short enough that you don't run out of buffer on the CD write.

	06-07-2003 18:19									#11
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quote: Originally posted by Provost Harrison Hmmm, well the problem is that each has control of the IDE channel when it needs it excluding the other device. This could be a significant problem for a CD burner which may require a steady stream of information if interrupted by the hard drive. I would recommend getting a cable for the secondary IDE channel, they aren't particularly expensive...

Just get a new cable and set the CD to secondary master, it's less likely to 'screw up' you in-laws computer, at least you'll know they can burn CD's ok

	06-07-2003 21:33									#12
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quote: Originally posted by MichaeltheGreat It can burn, but can it burn error free and consistently and at it's max speeds? The reason it works sometimes, or even most of the time, is that your HD reads/writes are short enough that you don't run out of buffer on the CD write.

mmm...do you think the buffer underrun/overrun protection in the burning program would be enough to solve that? I'm trying to decide if it's worth getting them to take me back to the computer store for this or not...

	06-07-2003 21:47									#13
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Most of the time - but if they thrash swapfile for a while, you'd be SOL. Also, you won't get the highest possible recording speeds on your CDs and burner without a fair percentage of errors. Usually, you only discover those in the middle of the CD.

It's worth putting it as the master device on it's own channel.

	06-07-2003 22:16									#14
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Ok, I guess I'll have to mess with that damn casing again...dammit!

Thanks for the advice.