4000T IDE Speed

[QuikSanz]

Looking to use a CF boot drive. I have read the speed is only 2.5Mb/s, a bit slow for a boot drive! Is it a correct number?

[SnkBitten]

Looking to use a CF boot drive. I have read the speed is only 2.5Mb/s, a bit slow for a boot drive! Is it a correct number?

I use a CF boot drive on my A4000T.   It and an IDE DVD drive are on the motherboard IDE controller and my storage drive is on my WarpEngine.

I don't have any issues with booting off the CF card (4 GB), the OS (3.9 BB2) still loads quick enough.

[QuikSanz]

Not so sure at that speed. 500Mb partition with every patch on earth should load in around 200 seconds at that rate. 300Mb in 120 Seconds.

[Oldsmobile_Mike]

Looking to use a CF boot drive. I have read the speed is only 2.5Mb/s, a bit slow for a boot drive! Is it a correct number?

CF = slow
Built-in IDE = slow

What do you want? Want fast? Get an accelerator with onboard SCSI.

[QuikSanz]

SCSI CF drives I've seen are just as slow. Maybe spend money on a Fast ATA MKVII. It may still load the CPU but only at boot.

[AndyFC]

Not so sure at that speed. 500Mb partition with every patch on earth should load in around 200 seconds at that rate. 300Mb in 120 Seconds.

This is only right if your partition is full and you're reading everything in that partition which, to load WB is probably not the case?

My boot partition is a few hundred Mb running off the A1200 on-board IDE, but it loads WB with the ClassicWB pack in about 10 seconds.

[QuikSanz]

CF = slow
Built-in IDE = slow

What do you want? Want fast? Get an accelerator with onboard SCSI.

It has a CSMKIII, a 500Gb SATA will be on that SCSI & a CDRW on the SCSI2.

[QuikSanz]

Amigakit won't answer a request for info on transfer rate of "4GB CF IDE HARD DISK DRIVE" from sales, they want me to contact support for that even though I have not bought it yet. I can't even get there due to an old certificate. I think I will buy from "Amigastore.eu". Specs published!

[Oldsmobile_Mike]

Good on them, I wouldn't post an "exact" spec either, since there's so many variables involved. But YMMV. :lol:

[QuikSanz]

Amigakit answered. Fastest is 6Mb/s. The one at Amigastore.eu is 16.6Mb/s and is $3 less. Big difference.

[Oldsmobile_Mike]

Amigakit answered. Fastest is 6Mb/s. The one at Amigastore.eu is 16.6Mb/s and is $3 less. Big difference.

I'll eat my hat if you get 16.6MB/s out of the stock motherboard IDE header. :lol:

[zipper]

>> The two boards that constitute the controller are inserted in the ROM sockets and on top of the GAYLE chip. <<

[zipper]

You don't, FastATA connects to ZorroIII or A1200 mobo chips.

[QuikSanz]

You don't, FastATA connects to ZorroIII or A1200 mobo chips.

Yes. Actually the CF adapter can go as high as 20Mb/s but then I would need an ACard UWSCSI to IDE adapter and would likely cost $100 more than a Fast ATA card. Does not seem worth it for 3.4Mb/s more.

[kreciu]

I say that HDD speed will make SOME difference in Amiga, you need to consider that most of Amiga software/games are about 2Mb in size, and most of things are really, really tiny (kb).

So, if you have transfer ~1.5 Mb/s (standard speed for A1200) and then later 8Mb/s (FastATA), there is SOME noticeable difference. HOWEVER, for Amiga the biggest difference you will see is after installing CF memory instead of HDD, since access time to files will be instant.

If you change regular HDD to CF in plain A1200 and install system on both without anything, you will see that Amiga with CF boots literally INSTANTLY (no HDD start etc.). Regular HDD and CF easily "saturate" IDE port in any Amiga.

HDD speed in Amiga is not that important (if you have CF memory as HDD). You can have super nice hard drive and it will take few minutes for 030 to show you a high resolution picture .

If you get 16.6Mb/s on regular IDE port in Amiga I will eat my shoe .