HP Xw8400 HP xw8400 Service and Technical Reference Guide - Page 160
Drive installation guidelines, Device classes, General attach guidelines
UPC - 883585271085
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Drive installation guidelines Most workstation system boards have two ATA (IDE) controller channels with a dedicated connector for each controller. One controller is designated as the primary and the other as the secondary controller. Each of the two controllers can have up to two devices attached to it. Each workstation system might therefore have a maximum of four ATA/ATAPI drives. All drives are connected to these controllers using an industry-standard, 80-conductor cable. NOTE The industry standard, 1.44-MB diskette drive has its own separate channel and is not included as a part of the maximum four drives. Any drive attached to a controller must have a drive designation. If only a single drive is connected to a controller and its jumper is in the cable-select position, it is designated as the Master Drive (Drive/ Device 0) by its attachment to the Drive/Device 0 cable position. If two cable-selected drives are connected to a single controller, one will be designated by its attachment to the cable as the Master (Drive/Device 0) and the other as Slave (Drive/Device 1). For optimal performance of a workstation system, all drives must be attached to the ATA controllers in a specified sequence. This sequence is determined by the device class of the drives and by specific attach sequence rules. Device classes To determine the best drive attach sequence, ATA/ATAPI drives are segregated into four different classes based on the bandwidth demands they place on an ATA controller. The most demanding devices are in Class 1 and the least demanding are in Class 4. Table C-1 Device classes Class 1 Hard drives ATA-100 ATA-66 ATA-33 Class 2 High Speed optical drives DVD DVD-CD R/W Class 3 Optical storage Class 4 Magnetic drives storage drives R/W CD-ROM LS-120 CD-ROM Tape Zip General attach guidelines ● The lower the device class number, the faster the device and the more bandwidth required. ● Drives installed in the Device 0 positions on both the primary and secondary controllers receive the greatest possible bandwidth. ● The bootable ATA hard drive should always be installed on the primary controller in the Device 0 position. Attach sequence rules by class priority Drives should be attached in the sequence shown for optimum performance starting at position 1. 150 Appendix C Appendix C - Ultra ATA devices ENWW