SUPER MICRO Computer I2DMR-8G2 user manual Type, LBA/Large Mode, Block Multi-Sector Transfer

Chapter 4: AMI BIOS

Primary IDE Master/Slave, Secondary IDE Master/Slave Sub Menu

From the Advanced Setup screen, press <Enter> to access this sub menu for the primary and secondary IDE master and slave drives. Use this screen to select options for the Primary and Secondary IDE drives. Use the up and down <Arrow> keys to select an item. Use the <Plus> and <Minus> keys to change the value of the selected option.

Type

Select the type of device connected to the system. The options are "Not Installed", "Auto", "CDROM" and "ARMD".

LBA/Large Mode

LBA (Logical Block Addressing) is a method of addressing data on a disk drive. In LBA mode, the maximum drive capacity is 137 GB. For drive ca- pacities over 137 GB, your system must be equipped with 48-bit LBA mode addressing. If not, contact your manufacturer or install an ATA/133 IDE controller card that supports 48-bit LBA mode. The options are "Disabled" or "Auto".

Block (Multi-Sector Transfer)

Block mode boosts IDE drive performance by increasing the amount of data transferred. Only 512 bytes of data can be transferred per interrupt if block mode is not used. Block mode allows transfers of up to 64 KB per interrupt. Select "Disabled" to allow the data to be transferred from and to the device one sector at a time. Select "Auto" to allows the data transfer from and to the device occur multiple sectors at a time if the device supports it. The options are "Auto" and "Disabled".

PIO Mode

IDE PIO (Programmable I/O) mode programs timing cycles between the IDE drive and the programmable IDE controller. As the PIO mode increases, the cycle time decreases. The options are "Auto", "0", "1", "2", "3", and "4". Select Auto to allow the BIOS to auto detect the PIO mode. Use this value if the IDE disk drive support cannot be determined. Select 0 to allow the BIOS to use PIO mode 0. It has a data transfer rate of 3.3 MBs. Select 1 to allow the BIOS to use PIO mode 1. It has a data transfer rate of 5.2 MBs. Select 2 to allow the BIOS to use PIO mode 2. It has a data transfer rate of 8.3 MBs. Select 3 to allow the BIOS to use PIO mode 3. It has a data transfer rate of 11.1 MBs. Select 4 to allow the BIOS to use PIO mode 4. It has a data transfer rate of 16.6 MBs. This setting generally works with all hard disk drives manufactured after 1999. For other disk drives, such as IDE CD-ROM drives, check the specifications of the drive.

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