multi word dma mode 2 ??

Marcus (2) · Jul 16, 2003

I have just done a Windows reinstall and when I was checking the settings in device manager I noticed that the secondary channel in the ata controllers is at Multi-Word DMA mode 2, this is a sony CDRW drive, the primary channel has a Sony DVD rom and it is at Ultra DMA mode 2.

Should my CDRW drive also be at Ultra DMA mode 2 or is Multi-Word DMA mode 2 OK, I have not noticed it before but the CDRW drive is fairly new.

Thanks

MArcus

TomG · Jul 16, 2003

personal opinion, it is fine at MW mode 2 but I do have to say that both my CD-RW and my DVD-ROM drive are at UDMA 2, not MW mode 2. is the selection for that ide channel at "DMA if available"? if not, set it to that...

TomG · Jul 16, 2003

you will probably have some higher cpu usage at MW2 over UDMA2 and lower throughput capability but with an optical device, it should not matter...

Marcus (2) · Jul 16, 2003

Hello Tom,

Yes it is set to DMA if available, it just seems a little strange as to why the Sony DVD is at UDMA 2 but the Sony CDRW is at something else.

I take it the MW mode is higher than PIO mode but lower than normal UDMA 2?

I'm going to benchmark both drives when I've finished my reinstall.

Marcus

"TomG" wrote:

personal opinion, it is fine at MW mode 2 but I do have to say that both

my

CD-RW and my DVD-ROM drive are at UDMA 2, not MW mode 2. is the selection for that ide channel at "DMA if available"? if not, set it to that...

--

Thomas Geery
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... settings in
device manager I noticed that the secondary channel in the ata controllers is at Multi-Word DMA mode 2, this is a sony CDRW drive, the primary channel has a Sony DVD rom and it is at Ultra DMA mode 2.

Should my CDRW drive also be at Ultra DMA mode 2 or is Multi-Word DMA mode 2
OK, I have not noticed it before but the CDRW drive is fairly new.

Thanks

MArcus

TomG · Jul 16, 2003

you are correct about the mode... higher than PIO but not as high a mode as UDMA 2.

Marcus (2) · Jul 16, 2003

Hello Tom,

I've just benchmarked my DVD rom (IDE 1) which is running at UDMA 2 and my CDRW (IDE2) which is running the Multi-Word DMA mode 2.

Using Sisoft SANDRA which used a 141mb test file:-

DVD 2412KB/s
CD-RW 2234KB/s

The CPU usage was roughly the same with both drives, the CDRW use 0-4% of the CPU power, so theres not much in it so I think I'll just leave it as it is.

In real terms Tom what speed would you expect a 52x CDRW drive to burn a CDR, mine will normally burn at about 20x if if's left alone and will burn a 700Mb disk in about 3mins, in your experience are the figures quoted by manufacturs just sales talk.

Cheers mate,

Marcus

"TomG" wrote:

you will probably have some higher cpu usage at MW2 over UDMA2 and lower throughput capability but with an optical device, it should not matter...

--

Thomas Geery
Network+ certified

ftp://geerynet.d2g.com
ftp://68.98.180.8 Abit Mirror <----- Cable modem IP
This IP is dynamic so it *could* change!...
over 113,000 FTP users served!
... settings in
device manager I noticed that the secondary channel in the ata controllers is at Multi-Word DMA mode 2, this is a sony CDRW drive, the primary channel
has a Sony DVD rom and it is at Ultra DMA mode 2.

Should my CDRW drive also be at Ultra DMA mode 2 or is Multi-Word DMA mode 2
OK, I have not noticed it before but the CDRW drive is fairly new.

Thanks

MArcus

Marcus (2) · Jul 16, 2003

Just found the problem, in the BIOS set up it shows both my drives but when I actually go in to the Controller option (Primary Master) the option was "None" so I changed it to "AUTO" and now the CDRW drive shows up at UDMA mode 2 transfer rate.

I thought that if it was set to none the the operating system would not be able to detect it, any way it's all OK now.

Thanks for your help again

Marcus

"TomG" wrote:

you are correct about the mode... higher than PIO but not as high a mode

as

UDMA 2.

--

Thomas Geery
Network+ certified

ftp://geerynet.d2g.com
ftp://68.98.180.8 Abit Mirror <----- Cable modem IP
This IP is dynamic so it *could* change!...
over 113,000 FTP users served!
^^^^^^^
... both my
CD-RW and my DVD-ROM drive are at UDMA 2, not MW mode 2. is the selection for that ide channel at "DMA if available"? if not, set it to that...

--

Thomas Geery
Network+ certified

ftp://geerynet.d2g.com
ftp://68.98.180.8 Abit Mirror <----- Cable modem IP ... DMA mode
2
OK, I have not noticed it before but the CDRW drive is fairly new.

Thanks

MArcus

...

TomG · Jul 16, 2003

it is weird... we have seen the setting of None actually FIX issues with DMA and, of course, we have seen that setting cause issues with DMA. Also, a setting of none will prevent booting from the drive usually.

glad you got it sorted.

TomG · Jul 16, 2003

your time to burn sounds about typical, I have to admit I have not actually timed mine but it sounds about ballpark. my Lite-On, if left in MaxBurn mode, will start out way down at the 10 to 12x as the burn starts and quickly start climbing into the 20's and then soon into the 30's and finally up to around 48 or so which makes sense since you have differing speeds as the head traverses the inner to outer tracks.

Phil Weldon · Jul 16, 2003

Maybe because the data transfer speed of a DVD drive at 16 X is much higher than that of a CD-ROM drive at 48 X? As in 16 X 1.76 MBytes/per second (28.6 MBytes/sec.) vs 48 X 0.154 MBytes/sec (7.34 MBytes/sec.)?

Phil Weldon,

"Marcus" wrote:

Hello Tom,

Yes it is set to DMA if available, it just seems a little strange as to why the Sony DVD is at UDMA 2 but the Sony CDRW is at something else.

I take it the MW mode is higher than PIO mode but lower than normal UDMA

2?

I'm going to benchmark both drives when I've finished my reinstall.

Marcus

"TomG" wrote:

personal opinion, it is fine at MW mode 2 but I do have to say that both my CD-RW and my DVD-ROM drive are at UDMA 2, not MW mode 2. is the selection for that ide channel at "DMA if available"? if not, set it to that...

--

Thomas Geery
Network+ certified

ftp://geerynet.d2g.com
ftp://68.98.180.8 Abit Mirror <----- Cable modem IP
This IP is dynamic so it *could* change!...
over 113,000 FTP users served!
^^^^^^^
...

- HAL9000 · Jul 17, 2003

Yep, when I upgraded from 98 to xp the dma bios settings were ok - set to Auto. When doing a clean install of xp I had to set it to "none" to get dma to work. Must be a bug in xp....

Forrest

Motherboard Help By HAL web site:
http://home.attbi.com/~hal-9000/

On Wed, 16 Jul 2003 17:09:23 -0400, "TomG"
wrote:

it is weird... we have seen the setting of None actually FIX issues with DMA and, of course, we have seen that setting cause issues with DMA.

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