One thing a lot of people forget when setting up new Windows/Computers is that windows does not default to 'dma' for cd rom units on the ide channels, but uses PIO mode, which is radically slower. This is an annoying holdback from the old days.

To check your settings, in windows, go to:

System [through control panel scroll to 'System', or right click 'my computer' icon, click 'properties', the System information box pops up].

Select 'Hardware' Tab.

Click 'Device Manager'

Scroll down to 'IDE ATAPI Controllers', expand by clicking plus sign.

Double click on 'Primary IDE channel', click 'Advanced Settings tab', select 'DMA if available for both channels 'Transfer Mode'

Click apply and ok, then do the same for the 'Secondary IDE channel'. This will set your IDE transfer mode to select DMA mode if available, which it is on all modern drives, CD roms support ultra DMA fine, the work at around uDMA 1 or 2 if I remember right.

A window will probably pop up when you have clicked 'Apply' and 'OK', telling you to restart, restart the computer before doing anything else. Any time you do a major configuration change on a Windows Computer it's always a good idea to restart, Windows isn't as modular as *nix systems, so it needs to restart to properly register the new changes.

This might help speed up transfer speeds, especially for cd burning. On slower, older pc's this makes a huge difference, between being able to burn successfully and having crashed burns requiring reboots etc.
Back to top

You can get all the different speeds for PIO, DMA, PCI buses, Harddrives, etc, in this transfer speed thread.
Back to top