Master/Slave -- Does it really matter?

[NDman]

Not for the main HDD. But for the optical drives. Does it affect the performance? Is there a reason why one should put the burner as Master? I did so but I never understand if it really makes a difference

[eelfliw]

The ATA/IDE interface is a single-tasking interface (in contrast, SCSI is multi-tasking so multiple devices can share the bus at the same time). That means, only 1 device can communicate at a time as it hogs the whole bus. The master device has higher priority than the slave device so when it communicates, the slave has to wait.

[JustMike]

The same holds true if the slave drive is busy, the master has to wait. If there is only one device on the controller, it shouldn't matter if it's master or slave.

[ShadowVlican]

shudn't affect performance... but i like having the burner as master

[sleepyguy]

I like to keep it at cs to be safe... then again i don't have like 10000x hd or cd/dvd drives like some users here.

shudn't affect performance... but i like having the burner as master

[ShadowVlican]

I like to keep it at cs to be safe... then again i don't have like 10000x hd or cd/dvd drives like some users here.

i only have 2 optical drives

[wiggy]

i only have 2 optical drives

Well then you're not trying ...