Hard Drive: WESTERN DIGITAL: AL-2200 CAVIAR LITE 200MB 2.5"/SL IDE / AT
A L - 2 2 0 0 C A V I A R L I T E WESTERN DIGITAL
NO MORE PRODUCED Native| Translation
------+-----+-----+-----
Form 2.5"/SLIMLINE Cylinders | 958| |
Capacity form/unform 200/ MB Heads 4| 12| |
Seek time / track 17.0/ 6.0 ms Sector/track | 34| |
Controller IDE / AT Precompensation
Cache/Buffer 32 KB SEGMENTED Landing Zone
Data transfer rate 2.000 MB/S int Bytes/Sector 512
5.000 MB/S ext
Recording method RLL 1/7 operating | non-operating
-------------+--------------
Supply voltage 5 V Temperature *C 5 55 | -40 65
Power: sleep 0.1 W Humidity % 8 85 | 5 95
standby 0.2 W Altitude km -0.305 3.048| -0.305 12.192
idle 0.9 W Shock g 10 | 100
seek W Rotation RPM 3600
read/write 1.9 W Acoustic dBA 43
spin-up 3.5 W ECC Bit ON THE FLY,REED SOLOMON
MTBF h 100000
Warranty Month 24
Lift/Lock/Park YES Certificates CSA,FCC,IEC950,TUV,UL1950
Layout
WESTERN AL1100/AL2200 CAVIAR LITE TECHNICAL MANUAL 79-860006-000
+---------------------------------------------------------+ | |XX | |XX | |XX | |XX J2 | |XX Inter- | |XX face | |XX | |.X | |XX | |XX | |XX | |XX | |XX | |1X | |+-+J8 | |1-2 +---------------------------------------------------------+
---+43---------------J2-----------------------1---3-1-+-----
|o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o . o o |J8
|o o o o o o o o o o o o . o o o o o o o o o . o o |
44----------------------20-----------------2---4-2-+
Jumpers
WESTERN AL1100/AL2200 CAVIAR LITE TECHNICAL MANUAL 79-86006-000
Jumper setting
==============
J8 Master/Slave/Cable Select Configuration
-------------------------------------------
+3-1+ Single Drive +3-1+ Master Drive
|o o| Configuration |X o| Configuration
|o o| |X o| (Dual Drives)
+4-2+ +4-2+
+3-1+ Slave Drive +3-1+ Cable Select
|o X| Configuration |X X| Configuration
|o X| (Dual Drives) |X X| (Dual Drives)
+4-2+ +4-2+
The Caviar can be assigned as either a single, master, or slave, or
CSEL drive.
Dual Installations
------------------
Dual installations require a master/slave drive configuration, where
one drive is designated as the primary (master) drive and the other
is designated as the secondary (slave) drive. The Caviar Lite drive
is compatible in dual installations with other intelligent drives
that support a master/slave configuration.
Another dual installation uses CSEL. When both master and slave
jumper are installed, then the CSEL line dictates the master or slave
drive state.
Single Drive Mode
-----------------
If you are installing the Caviar drive as the only intelligent drive
in the system, you do not need install jumpers on the J8 connector.
This is considered a standard single drive installation, and no
jumpers are required. Note that even with no jumper installed, the
Caviar checks the DRIVE ACTIVE/SLAVE PRESENT (DASP) signal to de-
termine if a slave IDE drive is present.
If you have a dual installation (two intelligent drives), you must
designate one of the drives as the master and the other as the slave
drive. The jumper pins on the J8 connector need to be configured for
the dual installation.
Master Drive Mode
-----------------
To designate the drive as the master, place a jumper shunt on pins
3-4. With the Caviar Lite configured as the master drive, the Caviar
assumes that a slave drive is present. The jumper on pins 3-4 is
optional if the slave drive follows the same protocol (Common Access
Method AT Bus Attachment) as the Caviar Lite.
Slave Drive Mode
----------------
To designate the drive as the slave, place a jumper shunt on pins
1-2. In all modes (including this one), the Caviar Lite does not spin
up after on until it receives a media access command.
Cable Select (CSEL)
-------------------
Caviar Lite also supports the CSEL signal on the drive cable as a
drive address selection. Place a jumper shunt on pins 3-4 and 1-2 to
enable this option. When enabled, the drive address is 0 (Master) if
CSEL is low, or 1 (Slave) if CSEL is high.
Do not install the CSEL jumper shunts when installing the Caviar Lite
drive on systems that do not support the CSEL feature.
Install
WESTERN AL1100/AL2200 CAVIAR LITE TECHNICAL MANUAL 79-860006-000
Notes of Installation
=====================
Orientation
-----------
The Caviar Lite can be mounted in the X, Y, or Z axis depending on
the physical design of your system. It is recommended that the drive
be mounted with all four screws grounded to the chassis.
Screw Size Limitations
----------------------
The Caviar Lite is mounted to the chassis using four M3.0X5-6H
screws. Recommended screw torque is 5 inch-pounds. Maximum screw
torque is 10 inch-pounds.
CAUTION
Screws that are too long will damage board components. The screw must
engage no more than 0.125 inches.
Grounding
---------
It is strongly recommended that the drive be mounted with all four
screws in the side grounded to the chassis.
Determining Your Configuration
------------------------------
The drive is cabled directly to a 44-pin connector on the mother-
board using a 44-pin host interface cable.
In dual installations, you must use a 44-pin host interface cable
with three connectors and daisy-chain the two drives to the
motherboard or adapter card.
Mounting the Drive
------------------
For dual installations, it is usually easier to completely install
one intelligent drive in the lower position first. The order of
intelligent drives is unimportant if you are using to Western Digital
drives. As explained previously, one must be jumpered as the master
drive and the other as the slave drive. When installation is complete
he drives are daisy-chained together.
Cabling and Installation Steps
------------------------------
Make sure your interface cable is no longer than 18 inches to
minimize the noise which is induced on the data and control buses.
Also, if you are connecting two drives together, you need a daisy-
chain-cable that has three 44-pin connectors.
Caution: You may damage the Caviar Lite drive if the interface
cable is not connected properly. To prevent incorrect connection,
use a cable that has keyed connectors at both the drive and host
ends. Pin 20 has been removed from J2 connector. The female connector
on the interface cable shoul have a plug position 20 to prevent
incorrect connection. Make sure that pin 1 on the cable is connected
to pin 1 on the connectors.
Installing an adapter card
--------------------------
If you are installing an adapter card, set the adapter card
configuration before attaching any cables or installing the card into
the slot.
NOTE
Remove ot disable any existing floppy controller which is being re-
placed by the adapter card/floppy controller.
Buffer RAM
----------
A 32-Kbyte static RAM buffer enhances data throughput by buffering
sector data between the Caviar Lite and the AT system bus. The
buffer is accessed by two channels, each having a separate 16-bit
address and byte-count register. The channels operate simultaneously,
accepting read and write operations from two data paths.
Universal Translation
---------------------
The Caviar Lite implements linear address translation. The
translation mode and translated drive configuration are selected by
using the Set Drive Parameters command to issue head and sector/track
counts to the translator. Caviar Lite supports universal translation,
therefore, any valid combination of cylinder, head and SPT can be
assigned to the drive, as long as the total number of sectors is not
greater than the physical limits. The product of the cylinder, head
and sectors/track counts must be equal to or less than the maximum
number of sectors available to the user. The maximum number of
sectors per drive are:
AL1100 - 195,432
AL2200 - 390,864
Each sector consists of 512 bytes.
The minimum values for any translation parameter is one.
The maximum value for any translation parameter is as follows:
Sectors/Track - 255
Heads - 16
Cylinders/Drive - 2048
Features
WESTERN AL1100/AL2200 CAVIAR LITE TECHNICAL MANUAL 79-860006-000
Advanced Defect Management
--------------------------
The Caviar Lite is preformatted (low-level) at the factory and comes
with a full complement of defect management functions. Extensively
tested during the manufacturing process, media defects found during
intelligent burn in are mapped out with Western Digital's high
performance defect management technique. No modifications are
required before installation.
Embedded Servo Control
----------------------
The Caviar Lite features an embedded servo concept that samples and
feeds back position information to the head position servo system.
Servo bursts are located along a radial path from the disk center,
ensuring that head positioning data occurs at constant intervals.
This high sampling rate supports the high frequency servo bandwidth
required for fast access times as well as highly accurate head
positioning.
The embedded servo concept provides the means of generating accurate
feedback information without requiring a full data surface as does
dedicated servo control.
Seek Time
---------
Average Seek Sub-17 Milliseconds
Track-to-Track Seek 6 Milliseconds
Maximum Seek 30 Milliseconds
Index Pulse Period 16.6 Milliseconds
Average Latency 8.3 Milliseconds
Voice Coil Assembly
-------------------
The voice coil assembly consists of an upper and lower magnetic
plate, a flat rotary coil, a bidirectional crash stop and a pivot
bearing. The pivot assembly fits in the actuator block bore.
Defect Management
-----------------
Every Caviar Lite undergoes factory-level intelligent burn in, which
thoroughly tests for and maps out defective sectors on the media
before the drive leaves the manufacturing facility. Following the
factory tests, a primary defect list is created. The list contains
the sector cylinder and head numbers for all defects.
Defects managed at the factory are sector slipped. Grown defects that
can occur in the field are handled by realocation to spare sectors on
the inner cylinders of the drive.
Format Characteristics
----------------------
In order to be compatible with existing industry standard defect
management utility programs, the Caviar Lite supports logical
format. When the host issues the Format Track command, the Caviar
performs a logical version of this command in response to the host's
interleave table request for good and bad sector marking or
assign/unassign the sector to/from an alternate sector.
If the host issues the Format Track Command during normal operating
modes, the data fields of the specified track are filled with a data
pattern of all zeros. The interleave table identifies any bad sectors
on a given track. The interleave table must contain all appropriate
number of bytes of data. There are two bytes per sector for each
entry in the interleave table. The first byte marks the sector as
good or bad.
Password Security
-----------------
The Caviar Lite's password protection scheme records the password on
the hard disk rather than in CMOS memory. This makes password
protection dependent on the hard disk rather than the host. Thus,
password protection follows the hard disk even when it is removed
from the computer.
Theory of Operation
-------------------
The password protection scheme is implemented via three commands that
follow the protocol of a single sector write. The protection itself
is achieved by the hard drive aborting all read and write operations
after power on until the drive has been unlocked by the user. The
unlocking consists of sending the drive a password that matches the
currently defined password.
At power on time, the drive checks to see if a password is currently
active. If so, all read and write operations will abort until the
drive receives a Verify Password command with the matching password.
The system BIOS should issue this command two times during POST;
first to determine if a password is active, and then again with the
user entered password to attempt to unlock the drive.
Verify Password
---------------
This command is used to unlock the drive. The host writes the Command
register, waits for the DRQ bit to be set, and then sends the drive
a 512 byte buffer of data. The first 8 bytes of the buffer entail the
password while the ninth byte is a compensation byte that makes the
sum of all 9 bytes to zero.
If no password is active, the drive will set the error bit in the
Status register and set the Error register to 55h. If the password
sent to the drive fails to match the currently active password, the
error bit in the Status register will be set and the Error register
will be set to AAh. Only three attempts at unlocking the drive are
allowed before the drive will abort all future attempts to unlock the
drive. In this case, the drive's power must be cycled before three
more attempts are allowed.
Create Password
---------------
This command is used to create and make active a password as long as
no password currently exists. The host sends the drive a 512 byte
block of data with the first 8 bytes defining the password and the
ninth byte being a compensation byte.
Delete Password
---------------
The Delete Password command is used to delete the current password.
The host must supply the drive with the current password before it
will be deleted. Only three attempts at deleting the password are
allowed before drive power must be cycled. If a password exists it
must be deleted before a new one can be created. If no password
exists or the host sends the improper password, the error bit in the
Status register will be set and an Aborted Command error code will be
posted in the Error register. If the password is successfully
deleted, the command completes with no error status.
Air Filtration System
---------------------
It is absolutely essential that air circulating within the drive be
free of particles. The HDA is assembled in a Class 100 purified air
environment, then sealed with a tape. To retain this clean
environment, the Caviar Lite is equipped with two filters. One
filter, the recirculating filter, cleans air within the HDA. The re-
circulating filter traps any particle which may be generated during
head landings or take-offs. Mounting the recirculating filter next to
the disk places the filter in the direction of the air flow. This
strategic placement of the filter allows the rotating disks to act as
an air pump forcing air through the recirculating filter. A second
filter, the breather filter, cleans any external air entering the
HDA. The breather filter also equalizes the internal and external air
pressure. The breather filter is located on the bottom of the HDA
under the PCBA.
General
WESTERN TIPS
WESTERN DIGITAL 3.5-INCH DRIVES FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ---------------------------------------------------------- 1) Will a Caviar drive work in my system? If your computer is 100% AT compatible and has either a 40-pin AT IDE interface on the motherboard or an IDE controller card with a 40-pin data cable.
2) What are the master/slave jumper settings on Western Digital
drives?
All Western Digital drives are configured the same. On the back of
the drive between the 4-pin power connector and the 40-pin data
connector, there is a jumper block J8 consisting of 6 pins.
Western Digital hard drives are shipped with a jumper shunt in the
neutral storage position (across pins 5 and 3) for future dual
drive use.
- If you are installing the Western Digital hard drive as the only hard drive in your system, leave the jmper shunt in the neutral storage posiition. Jumper shunts are not required for single hard drive installations.
- To designate the Western Digital hard drive as the master (C:), place a jumper shunt on pins 5-6
- To designate the Western Digital hard drive as the slave (D:), place a jumper shunt on pins 3-4.
3) What are the drive type and the drive parameters in the CMOS, for
Western Digital drives?
On top of the drive, the number of cylinders, heads and sectors
per track are printed on the label. Precomp and L-zone should be
set equal to the drive's cylinder count + 1. Select user type or
custom type (typically type 41 or 42) for your drive. This will
allow you to type in the parameters. Older systems that do not
offer a user type can either upgrade the system BIOS or set the
drive to drive type 1 (which should be a smaller drive size), and
run Ontrack Disk Manager from A drive to get the full capacity of
the drive. If you do not follow one of these procedures and your
system is pre-1994, you will be limited to the largest size drive
your BIOS will allow.
4) What is the Ontrack Disk Manager software that came with my drive
and what does it do?
Ontrack Disk Manager is the original hard disk installation
package that will initialize, partition, and prepare your hard
drive for use. Ontrack Disk Manager also allows you to access the
full capacity of the drive even when your system BIOS can't. It is
compatible with 32-bit disk access.
Note: Ontrack Disk Manager must be installed from floppy drive A. If
your A drive is a 5.25-inch floppy drive, copy the contents of your
Ontrack Disk Manager disk to a formatted 5.25-inch disk and re-run
Ontrack Disk Manager.
5) I just installed Ontrack Disk Manager on my Caviar drive and tried
to install DOS. DOS attempted to write to my drive and it
formatted my drive back to 528 MB which is my BIOS limitation. How
do I install DOS and still get the full capacity of my drive?
After Ontrack Disk Manager installation, you must create an
Ontrack Disk Manager rescue disk. There are two ways of
accomplishing this:
OPTION 1:
- Create a clean DOS bootable disk.
- Copy 2 files from the Ontrack Disk Manager disk to your bootable disk: XBIOS.OVL, and DMDRVR.BINs Create a CONFIG.SYS file on this bootable disk with these 3 lines: DEVICE=DMDRVR.BIN FILES=35 BUFFERS=35
- Remove the floppy and reboot the system.
- When you see the message "Press spacebar to boot from diskette", press the spacebar (system halts).
- Insert the rescue disk in the A: drive.
- Press any key (system resumes boot process).
- At the A: prompt, remove rescue disk, insert DOS installation disk and type SETUP.
- You can now install DOS without overwriting the Ontrack Disk Manager files.
OPTION 2:
- Create a clean DOS bootable disk.
- Insert Ontrack Disk Manager disk in the A: drive.
- At the A prompt, type: DMCFIG/D=A:. You will be prompted to insert a bootable floppy in the A: drive.
- Follow the prompts on the screen. Ontrack Disk Manager will ask you to change disks a few times.
- Continue until Ontrack Disk Manager is finished.
- Remove the floppy and reboot the system.
- When you see the message "Press spacebar to boot from diskette". Press the spacebar (system halts).
- Insert the rescue disk in A drive.
- Press any key (system resumes boot process).
- At A prompt, remove rescue disk, insert DOS installation disk and type SETUP.
- You can now install DOS without overwriting the Ontrack Disk Manager files.
6) CHKDSK or SCANDISK reports a few bad sectors. How do I go about
fixing the problem.
You can use the Western Digital defect management utility WDATIDE.
One of its options is the comprehensive surface analysis. This
procedure will mark all grown defects bad if indeed there are any
and it will compensate for the lost capacity by utilizing spare
tracks.
Note: This utility is data destructive. Back up all data on the drive
before using it. Due to the thoroughness of this operation, WDATIDE
can take quite a bit a time depending on the capacity of your drive.
7) Do I have to do anything with my original drive when adding a new
drive to my system?
Yes, one hard drive must be designated as the master drive
(preferably the newer, faster drive) and the other must be
designated as the slave drive. Typically, most drives need to have
a jumper placed on them to specify the Master or Slave position.
For information on non-Caviar hard drives, please contact the
appropriate manufacturer.
8) I installed my new drive and entered the drive parameters in the
CMOS, but the drive will not boot or it displays the message "HDD
controller failure."
Your drive must be partitioned and formatted before it will be
bootable. If your system will support drives larger than 528 MB,
and you have a copy of MS-DOS or PC-DOS version 5.0 or greater,
insert the setup diskette in your floppy drive and turn on your
computer. Follow the prompts and DOS will partition and format the
drive for you.
If you do not have a copy of MS-DOS or PC-DOS version 5.0 or greater,
you will need to boot from a bootable disk and then run the FDISK
command to partition your drive, and then format the drive using the
DOS FORMAT command. After running format, you should be able to
reboot your computer from your hard drive.
9) How can I use the full capacity of my Caviar drive of 540 MB or
greater?
You can use Ontrack Disk Manager to obtain full capacity if your
system does not support LBA mode. If your system does support LBA
mode, you can enable LBA in your CMOS setup utility.
10) How can I get 32-Bit Disk Access in Windows on my Caviar AC2540,
AC2700 or AC31000 in Windows 3.1x? If your BIOS supports the
drive at full capacity (i.e., the BIOS supports Logical Block
Addressing) you use WDCDRV.386, Western Digital's FastDisk device
driver. This driver is contained in a file named WIN31.EXE
available for downloading from our bulletin board (714/753-1234),
our Web server (WWW.WDC.COM), our FTP site (FTP.WDC.COM), our
forum on the Microsoft Network (Go word WDC), and our forum on
America On-line (keyword WDC). If your BIOS does not support LBA
mode and you have installed your drive using Ontrack Disk Manager
(v6.03 and above), run DMCFIG to install WDCDRV.386 and obtain
32-Bit Disk Access.
11) My drive will not spin up or spins down after a few seconds.
This is a drive failure. Return the drive to the distributor or
contact a technical support representative to receive a Return
Materials Authorization (RMA).
12) CMOS, FDISK and File Manager in Windows report less than the
capacity of my new drive, but CHKDSK reports the right number of
bytes. Which is correct?
Setup (CMOS) and FDISK use a binary definition of a megabyte
which is calculated at 1,048,256 bytes per megabyte. All hard
drive manufacturers and the DOS CHKDSK utility use a decimal
definition of a megabyte which is calculated at 1,000,000 bytes
per megabyte. This is why some utilities show 515 MB for a 540
megabyte drive and some show the actual number.
13) How Can I install OS/2 for Windows, OS/2 3.0 WARP, Windows NT
3.5x or Windows 95 on my drive which was initially installed
using Ontrack Disk Manager?
If you have Ontrack Disk Manager version 6.03, 6.03a, or 6.03b,
download the file named DMPATCH.EXE from Western Digital's online
services: ftp site: ftp.wdc.com
World Wide Web Site: http://www.wdc.com/
Microsoft Network (MSN) - Go word WDC
America Online (AOL) - Keyword: Western Digital
Western Digital's BBS at (714) 753-1234
This file has the latest Ontrack Disk Manager drivers which will
allow you to install OS/2 version 2.1x, OS/2 WARP, Windows NT 3.5x
or Windows 95 on your hard drive. Please read the included readme
file with this file for further detail.
14) My drive will work as a slave but not as a master (or vice-
versa).
Check master/slave jumpers on all drives. Also, some drive's speed
and timing differ drastically as to the initial spinup sequence. This
might confuse the system and cause one of the drives not to be
recognized. The best solution for this situation is to exchange
drives (make the master a slave and vice-versa).
15) My drive will not partition when I run FDISK. It hangs the system
or it displays the message: "Runtime error."
This is usually caused by corruption or damage to track zero. Use
the Western Digital utility WDFMT to format the drive. If that
does not help, call Western Digital Technical support at
1-800-ASK-4-WDC to get further instructions.
16) Can a hard drive be mounted on it's side, edge, or upside down?
Drives can be mounted on any side but it is preferable to mount
the drive right side up. It is also important to use all four
screws to hold the drive firmly in place.
Self-Monitoring, Analysis, and Reporting Technology (S.M.A.R.T.)
----------------------------------------------------------------
S.M.A.R.T. enables a drive's internal status to be monitored through
diagnostic commands at the host level.
The Caviar AC21600, AC32100 and AC32500 drives monitor read error
rate, start/stop count, spin-up retry count, and drive calibration
retry count. All of these attributes are updated and stored on the
hard drive in the reserved area of the disk. The hard drive also
stores a set of attribute thresholds that correspond to the
calculated attribute values. Each attribute threshold indicates the
point at which its corresponding attribute value achieves a negative
reliability status.
====================================================================
QUESTION
Which hard drive specification is most important to overall
system performance ?
- Host Transfer Rate
- Drive RPM (revolutions per minute)
- Disk Transfer Rate (Media Rate)
- Seek Time
- Cache Size
- PC Data Handling
- All of the above
Answer
The correct answer is actually a combination of "all of the above,"
keeping in mind most of the above specifications are interrelated
when it comes to optimizing system performance.
The pie chart illustrates the relative influence of factors affecting
drive performance during a typical random I/O operation (reading
and writing to a hard drive).
The major determinate of hard drive performance is mechanical
factors which are one hundred times slower than the high-speed
electronics contained in a drive.
Factors Affecting Hard Drive Performance
(In their relative order of importance)
MECHANICAL LATENCIES
Mechanical Latencies include both Seek Time and Rotational
Latency. The seek time is a measure (in milliseconds) of how
fast the hard drive can move its read/write heads to a desired
location. Rotational latency is a measure of the average time
(also in milliseconds) the read/write heads must wait for the
target sector on the disk to pass under them once the read/write
heads are moved to the desired target track.
Mechanical latencies are the main hindrance to higher performance
in modern Enhanced IDE (EIDE) hard drives. The time delays of
mechanical latencies are one hundred times higher than
electronic (non-mechanical) latencies associated with the
transferring of data. Therefore, reducing mechanical latencies
(a lowering of seek time and rotational latency) should be the
top consideration in improving hard drive performance.
RPM
This is the rotational speed of the media (disk), also referred
to as the spindle speed. Hard drives only spin at one constant
speed. Typical speeds are 3600 to 3880, 4500, and 5200 to 5400
revolutions per minute. The slower the RPM, the higher the
Mechanical Latencies. Disk RPM is a critical component of hard
drive performance because it directly impacts the rotational latency
and the Disk Transfer Rate explained below.
DISK TRANSFER RATE
The Disk Transfer Rate (sometimes called media rate) is the
speed at which data is transferred to and from the disk media
(actual disk platter) and is a function of the recording frequency.
Typical units are bits per second (BPS), or bytes per second.
Modern hard disks have an increasing range of Disk Transfer
Rates from the inner diameter to the outer diameter of the disk.
This is called a "zoned" recording technique.
The key media recording parameters relating to density per platter
are Tracks Per Inch (TPI) and Bits Per Inch (BPI). A track is a
circular ring around the disk. TPI is the number of these tracks
that can fit in a given area (inch). BPI defines how many bits
can be written onto one inch of a track on a disk surface. To
greatly simplify, the Disk Transfer Rate (the rate at which data
is read and written to the disk) is dependent upon the speed of
the disk (RPM) and the density of the data on the disk (BPI).
Even most modern, high-speed, 5000 RPM hard drives are generally
limited to a maximum Disk Transfer Rate of approximately 9 to 10
MB per second. This specification is critical to performance and
must be weighed carefully against such electronic latencies as
Mode 3 PIO and Mode 4 PIO host transfer rates explained below.
PC DATA HANDLING
After the data moves down the IDE cable from the drive to the host
interface, there are several factors that can affect drive
performance over which the hard drive has no control. PC Data
Handling is independent from the hard drive and very dependent
upon the CPU type and speed, the BIOS overhead (how the system
issues commands to the hard drive), speed and size of the system
RAM and RAM cache, CPU-to-memory speed, and storage subsystem
performance. PC Data Handling is also affected by the caching
methods of such software applications as SMARTDRIVE, 32-bit
disk access operating system drivers, etc.
HOST TRANSFER RATE
The speed at which the host computer can transfer data across the
IDE or EIDE interface. Processor Input/Output (PIO) modes and
Direct Memory Access (DMA) modes are defined in the ATA-2 industry
specification as follows:
Mode 3 PIO 11.1 MB/sec
Mode 4 PIO 16.6 MB/sec
Mode 1 DMA 13.3 MB/sec
Mode 2 DMA 16.6 MB/sec
Modern host computer systems usually support most of the above
modes. Faster Host Transfer Rates in the future will use multi-word
DMA modes as the industry will not support any future PIO mode
standards beyond mode 4.
The computer system manufacturer is responsible for implementing a
Host Transfer Rate that is high enough to ensure that the host
computer is not the performance bottleneck. Implementing
increasingly higher Host Transfer Rates without corresponding
increases in Disk Transfer Rates on the hard drive will not result
in increased drive performance.
Cache Buffer Size - Is Bigger Always Better ?
A Cache Buffer is similar to a water glass. When you are writing
to a hard drive, the host computer fills the glass and the disk
media empties it. If you are reading data from a hard drive, the
disk media fills the glass and the host computer empties it.
The reason that a bigger cache buffer is not always better
(or faster) is because the host computer (with Mode 4 PIO or
Mode 2 DMA capabilities) can empty or fill the glass much faster
than the hard drive can empty or fill it. When the host system can
transfer data in or out of the cache buffer faster than the media
rate, a larger buffer size becomes irrelevant because the host
system is always "waiting" for the hard drive.
Western Digital hard drives are designed with cache buffer sizes
that are matched to the Disk Transfer Rate capabilities of the
drive and the Host Transfer Rates of modern computer systems. All
of our drives are benchmarked with various cache buffer sizes to
verify that the most cost-effective and performance-effective
cache size is implemented.
Confusion Over Mode 4 and Mode 2 DMA
The Enhanced IDE program created the long-range road map for
performance enhancements which included faster disk and host
transfers, Mode 3, Mode 4, Mode 2 DMA, etc. Currently, computer
systems and hard drive controller silicon have most of the elements
needed to implement Mode 4 PIO or Mode 2 DMA (a 16.6 MB/sec Host
Transfer Rate). However, to take advantage of these performance
modes, physical drive architecture must also make some performance
improvements in the area of Mechanical Latencies and Disk Transfer
Rate (media rate) as defined earlier.
Some competitors, in their eagerness to supply a new feature, are
prematurely marketing Mode 4 and Mode 2 DMA. While their drive
controller silicon supports these modes (which is very easy and
inexpensive to implement), spindle speeds (RPM), rotational latency,
bit density, and other factors have not yet been improved (these
being very difficult and costly). The result is hard drives which
have the electronic capability to do Mode 4 and Mode 2 DMA transfer
rates, but can't take advantage of these modes due to the slower
Disk Transfer Rate of the drive.
Western Digital will not be implementing Mode 4 or Mode 2 DMA on
older drive products as the host systems into which these drives
are designed are not electrically capable of these data transfers,
nor are the Disk Transfer Rates on these drives beyond current Mode
3 capabilities. As next generation systems are introduced, they will
be paired with next generation drives. Those drives will require
and offer true Mode 4 / Mode 2 DMA capability from a total drive
architecture standpoint.
=====================================================================
AC2540/2635/2700/2850/21000/31000/31200/31600
Windows 95 Operating System Addendum
------------------------------------
The information in this addendum supersedes that supplied in Windows
95 section on pages 35 and 36 of this manual. Please refer to thos
addendum for Windows 95 questions.
Although Windows 95 is capable of recognizing the full capacity of
hard drives larger than 528 MB in systems with a translating BIOS,
some restrictions apply to systems without a translating BIOS.
For Systems With a Translating BIOS
-----------------------------------
Enter your CMOS setup and select a drive type that will recognize the
full capacity of your drive. This is usually done by selecting the
auto config drive tape. The boot partition can be set up to be as
large as the full capacity of your hard drive.
For Systems Without a Translating BIOS
--------------------------------------
Enter your CMOS setup and select a user defined drive type. Enter
these parameters: cylinders = 1024, heads = 16, sectors = 63. Your
system's total disk space will be limited to a maximum of 528MB.
If you want your system to utilize more than 528 MB of disk space,
you must use Ontrack's Disk Manager software (or a similar third-
party installation software).
Installing Windows 95 on a Hard Drive with Ontrack Disk Manager
Already Installed
---------------------------------------------------------------
The Windows 95 installation program will analyze your computer
system and install seamlessly with Ontrack Disk Manager.
Computer Systems with Windows 95 Already Installed
--------------------------------------------------
If you are installing a Western Digital hard drive and Ontrack Disk
Manager on a computer system with Windows 95 already installed, you
must install Ontrack Disk Manager as described here.
Enter your CMOS setup and select a user defined drive type. Enter
these parameters for drives with capacities over 528MB:
Cylinders = 1024, Heads = 16, Sectors = 63.
Save these changes and reboot your computer.
1. Select the Start icon from the Windows 95 main screen.
DO NOT open an MS-DOS menu from Win 95 to install Ontrack Disk
Manager.
2. Choose the Shut Down option.
3. Select Resatrt Computer in DOS mode. When your computer restarts,
you should be at the DOS prompt.
4. Install Ontrack Disk Manager.
Windows 95 will noe recognize the full capacity of your hard drive
and run in 32-bit disk access mode for optimum performance.
My Books
