Adding a new storage disk

[stpapaf]

Hi there, I recently bougth a new hard disk 160 GB for storage use for capturing and editing videos. I already have a 40 GB disk (primary master) running winXP, and a dvd writer (secondary master).
Which one of the following is the best connection for the new disk
a) As primary slave
b) as secondary master and dvd writer secondary slave?
Thanks
stpapaf

[unclebud]

I would go with primary slave. Keep the slower devices on a separate chain.

[RabidDog]

keep hard disks on one cable and optical disks on a seperate cable. This is becuase all disks on one cable will default to the slowest speed of any device on that cable.

[rallynavvie]

keep hard disks on one cable and optical disks on a seperate cable. This is becuase all disks on one cable will default to the slowest speed of any device on that cable.

Uh, I don't think that's entirely true

[Jayhawk]

keep hard disks on one cable and optical disks on a seperate cable. This is becuase all disks on one cable will default to the slowest speed of any device on that cable.

Used to be true years ago but not anymore. Modern chipsets adjust for the speed of individual devices on each channel.

To answer stpapaf's question (with an opinion). For disk to disk editing and Shrinking / re-encoding of large files, it would be better to have your new hard drive on the opposite channel thatn your C: drive. Rip to Primary, Re-encode or edit to Secondary (master or slave doesn't matter). Since that is typically the longer operation you will save the most time. Even if your not ripping but just capturing it would benefit you to capture to one channel and burn to the other.

I would put the new drive as a Secondary Master and move your burner over to Primary as a Slave.

[stpapaf]

Thanks a lot all of you.
Finaly, I decided cabling the second storage HDD as primary slave and to leave the dvd burner alone in the second channel as secondary master.