This issue of IDE bus slowing to the speed of lowest drive in the chain is no longer the case on most motherboards due to independent device timing. If the IDE chipset supports independent device timing, then the hard drive will operate at a different speed. So basically, putting a CD or DVD on the same chain as a high speed hard drive is only a problem on very old mobo that don't support independent device timing. On all modern chipsets this is no longer a problem, so I suppose the question is how modern is the IDE chipset in question. If you're not sure if the chipset supports independent device timing, pair the CD with the slowest drive of the lot, and use that slowest drive for stuff like backups or other files that will not be accessed as frequently. Also, make sure your system is running at the fastest DMA mode possible for the drives, and there are some DMA mode test progs that can help you determine if you're achieving independent device timing. Glenn said: A hard drive in line with the CD/DVD drive will operate mighty slow, since the slower drive determines the speed of the drives in the chain,
