2 Master IDE CD-Rom Drives?

[Luminescent]

I'm using my hard-drive in serial ata mode, therefore I have two master IDE slots available. Could I setup my CDRW drive on one and my DVD drive on the other? Would there be a tangible performance benefit from doing this?

 

[Guden Oden]

By "master IDE slots", I assume you mean two separate IDE channels (that may currently be unpopulated)?

It may be somewhat of a performance benefit if you plan on burning from CD to CDRW to have them on separate channels, but overall I don't think so. The bus is so much faster than any optical drive. But by all means, go ahead and arrange them as two drives on two channels, it certainly won't hurt! Other than create a little extra cable clutter in your computer that is...

 

[Bolloxoid]

Sure. Devices on separate IDE channels can be active concurrently, whereas devices on the same channel must wait for turns.

Real world performance benefits? You would have to be using both drives simultaneously a lot and even then, who can tell. But theoretically that is the optimal solution.

 

[Luminescent]

Thanks for the suggestion guys, just tried it and it works fine. I notice a little less lag when opening content from both drives simultaneously.