How many drives in A4000D?

[doctorq]

If I were you I would just ditch the 4 GB IDE drive, and get myself a 18+ GB SCSI harddrive for the WarpEngine controller instead.

As for how many drives you can have in there; as many as room allows. You will need to consider heat though.

[doctorq]

@Darrin

FastATA will naturally be faster than the onboard IDE as it's Z3, and isn't build like the other IDE controllers released.

Comparing it to the onboard IDE controller or any Zorro II based controller doesn't show the correct picture. It will be like comparing the FastATA to the CSPPC SCSI controller.

There is no speed gain on a Buddha compared to the onboard IDE controller. If any speed increase, it's only minimal.

[doctorq]

Which certainly backs up my claim to forget about the IDE connector on the mobo.

Not really, as you are comparing a FastATA, which isn't the same as the IDE controller on the motherboard (or Buddha for that matter).

So you're saying that the Buddha running in PIO4 mode will not be any better than the A4000 IDE in PIO0?

No, I'm not. I'm saying you will have no speed increase in using a Buddha compared to the onboard IDE controller of the Amiga 4000 motherboard. You are setting a FastATA equal to a Buddha which is wrong.

[doctorq]

what I was trying to say (badly) was that using a Buddha is better than using the internal IDE on the A4000.

And why is that? The only advantage with using a Buddha on an A4000 is that the ports are easier to access, and you get two channels instead of one (not a big deal if you only have a harddrive and a CD drive). Speedwise they are more or less equal.

[doctorq]

Speedwise, I'm sure that the Buddha in PIO4 mode is going to outstrip that internal header in PIO0 mode by a factor of 2.  Plus it can take 6 IDE devices, has an A1200 clockport expansion port and comes with some nice CD ROM setup software which avoids having to use IDEFix.

AFAIK the Buddha can't do PIO4, PIO0 only, and you can only have 4 devices attached, not 6. The clockport is a bonus, I'll give you that.

As for the software, well, it's more or less the same as any other CD software around.

[doctorq]

Task for today:  Connect the same drive to te internal header and check speed, then reconnect to the FastATA in mode 0 and check speed.  I'll be back...    :-D

Then you are still putting a FastATA equal to a Buddha card, and it's still wrong. The FastATA will be much faster than the Buddha and it will be much faster than the onboard IDE controller.

As told earlier, the FastATA is Z3, Buddha is Z2, and the Buddha and onboard IDE controller are equal speedwise.

[doctorq]

@Darrin

Please specify if you are talking about the Buddha or the FastATA (as I think it is) in the following

I bet it can. The Buddha pref let you set what PIO mode you want to use for each channel. I remember setting it to high for an old IDEZ drive and couldn't get it to boot until I used the prefs to crank it down (The PIO settings are stored on the Buddha so that it knows in what ode to operate).

[doctorq]

And is this software available for download somewhere? I'll have to take a look and test it myself to believe the things posted here.

[doctorq]

Darrin wrote:
Doh!  OK, forget EVERYTHING I said!  Jesus, I'm going senile!!!  I was describing the preferences for my Power Flyer Gold in my A1200T!!!

Sorry!!!  I'm an idiot!  OK, who has got a hat that they want me to eat.

I have one for you :-) Glad we got that sorted out.