config1:
ide1 - HD3.2/master, CDROM/slave
ide2 - HD7.6/master
Config2:
ide1 - HD3.2/master
ide2 - HD7.6/master, CDROM/slave
Config3:
ide1 - HD3.2/master, HD7.6/slave
ide2 - CDROM/slave
As a practical matter, I have not seen any degradation
of the master HD when a CD was on the IDE slave position.
You would degrade the HD on the same controller as the
CD while the CD was busy, but even if you copy from the
CD to the HD on the same controller the degradation will
probably not be particularly noticeable (any more than
having two HDs on the same channel would be, at any rate).
Essentially, unless the HD is pretty slow, the CD's speed
will be the limiting factor in the transfer.
This probably sounds more esoteric than it is. Since IDE
controllers are single-threaded, copies from one device to
another on the same controller have to wait for each other.
Of course, they have to wait anyhow for actual data transfer
(got to read it from x before you can write it to y, no
matter what).
Possibly the newer DMA IDE disks can actually overlap some
data transfers; somebody knowledgeable about that might
comment.
Anyhow, you'll probably see your best overall performance
with Config 2. You WILL use both HDs, unless you configure
your swap files, program files, and all data on a single
disk, which would not be a good plan. I'd suggest swap
and data on the CTL 1 master and data on the CTL 2 master,
though you might also want swap space there as well.
IF you decide on Config 2 and later add another HD, do
yourself a favor and move your 7.6 drive from ide2 master
to ide1 slave and add your new drive as the ide2 master.
That is, unless you REALLY enjoy changing drive letters
in all your shortcuts. Also your newest disk will
probably be faster and can work to your advantage as the
master on ide2.
Config 3 is a viable alternate, though you won't get as
good a performance from the HDs. Chances are you won't
notice the difference, practically speaking. (If you
do notice the difference, SCSI would probably really
benefit you). You WILL notice the difference in large
disk-to-disk transfers, though. Config 2 will be
significantly faster than config 3. Probably not a
frequent problem.
I don't actually know of a real problem with config 1,
but it would worry me. But then I'm paranoid (so they
say; personally I think someone's out to get me<g>).
However, HD performance should be about the same as
config 2, assuming my fears are unfounded.
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