Which drive arrangement would be faster?

[Patrick]

Ok, this is for all the FastTrack experts out there. I have just installed an Asus CUBX motherboard which has the built in ATA/66 controller. I have one boot drive and two 18 Gb WD Expert (ATA/66) 7200RPM drives for video capture. I also have an original FastTrack33, NOT a FastTrack66. My question is:

Would the two ATA/66 capture drives be more efficient striped together on the FastTrack33 card (running as ATA/33 drives), or would they be faster connected directly to the ATA66 controller on the motherboard? Keep in mind that if they were connected to the ATA/66 controller that they could run as ATA/66 drives, and they could also each be set up as a master on their own IDE connector.

I know the real solution would be to get a FastTrack66 , but I only have the older FastTrack at this point. Any feedback would be appreciated.

[Dr Mordrid]

If the integrated ATA66 controller is a based on the Promise Ultra66 then you can't install a Fasttrak. They would use the same memory space and conflict.

If the integrated ATA66 controller is based on another chipset (i.e. SIIG, Adaptec or HighPoint) then it should work fine.

Some ATA66 drives have to be put into an ATA33 compatability mode either with a jumper or using a utility program. Others do this automatically. Find out which and proceed as necessary.

With all that said those ATA66's should run fine on an ATA33 Fasttrak and be twice as fast a single drive.

Dr. Mordrid



[This message has been edited by Dr Mordrid (edited 19 June 2000).]

[Patrick]

Thanks for responding, Doc.

The ATA/66 controller on the board is made by CMD. I trust there shouldn't be any problems with a FastTrack installed, although I was totally unaware that this could have been a problem.

I had one of the 18 Gb WD drives installed with my previous Epox motherboard (without the FastTrack) and yes, I used a utility program do make it run at ATA/33.

So Doc (or anyone who cares to comment), if I understand you completely, you're saying that the two ATA/66 drives running at ATA/33 on the FastTrack33 would be faster than the same two drives running at ATA/66 connected directly to the ATA/66 controller on the motherboard?

I guess what I'm getting at is I'm wondering how much faster the drives are running at their full ATA/66 potential as opposed to being slowed down to work with the FastTrack33. I realize the FastTrack greatly increases the overall speed, but does it more than cover the loss of the ATA/66 drives running at ATA/33?

You've gotta keep it simple for me...

[Dr Mordrid]

Yes. Those two specific WD ATA66 drives running as ATA33's in a RAID0 array on a Fasttrak33 will be twice as fast as they would on an ATA66 controller as single drives. Even running as ATA33 drives.

Since the combined speed of two those WD ATA66 drives merged into a RAID0 array (~24-28 mb/s) is still below the maximum capability of the Fasttrak33 controller (~30+ mb/s) it will allow them to run full tilt. Since in a RAID0 the first two drives are twice as fast as a single drive of the same type you gain a lot even with the old controller.

Notice you don't really run into a problem until the max speed of the interface is exceeded. As such adding a THIRD WD ATA66 to the same RAID0 array would cause the arrays maximum possible speed to exceed the abilities of the Fasttrak33 card itself and create a performance hit relative to the same drives on a Fasttrak66.

Another example:

The Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 40 ATA66 and the IBM 75GPX ATA100 are in a whole other time zone in terms of speed, being capable of over 20 and 30 mb/s respectively. Mounting a pair either of these in a Fasttrak33 RAID0 would cause perfomance hit with just two drives. Yes, they are that fast.

You could insure yourself though. The Fasttrak66 is down to only $75 now that the Fasttrak100 is in the distribution channel.

Dr. Mordrid


[This message has been edited by Dr Mordrid (edited 20 June 2000).]

[Patrick]

Thanks again, Doc.

Ok, that settles it. I'll use the FastTrack with the two capture drives. Although I got the FastTrack ages ago, I've never used it because it took me so long to find a twin to go with the first WD Expert drive I had. So in other words, expect a few questions about setting up this thing over the next few days or weeks...

[Dr Mordrid]

Well....I'll get a head start on it now. Go to the Promise site;

http://www.promise.com/ftp/index.asp

and download the latest Fasttrak drivers (1.20 build 33).

You might also want to call Promise Tech Support and check on the availability of the 1.08 BIOS update. I got mine for free since it had bug fixes.

Dr. Mordrid



[This message has been edited by Dr Mordrid (edited 20 June 2000).]

[Patrick]

Thanks for pointing me in the right direction, Doc. I move with glacial speed, so expect to be getting more questions on this over the course of the summer.