Tyan Computer B5102, GX21 manual IDE HDD Block Mode, On-Chip Primary PCI IDE, Enabled / Disabled

IDE HDD Block Mode

The IDE HDD Block Mode feature speeds up hard disk access by transferring data from multiple sectors at once instead of using the old single sector transfer mode. When you enable it, the BIOS will automatically detect if your hard disk supports block transfers and configure the proper block transfer settings for it. Up to 64KB of data can be transferred per interrupt with IDE HDD Block Mode enabled.

If you disable IDE HDD Block Mode, only 512 bytes of data can transferred per interrupt. This degrades performance quite a bit. For optimal performance, enable this option. The choices are:

Enabled / Disabled

Note: Microsoft recommends that WinNT

4.0users without Service Pack 2 disable IDE HDD Block Mode as it causes data corrup- tion.

On-Chip Primary PCI IDE

IDE hard drive controllers can support up to two separate hard drives. These drives have a master/slave relationship which is determined by the cabling configuration used to attach them to the controller. Your system supports two IDE controllers-- a primary and a secondary-- so, up to four sepa- rate hard disks can be installed.

PIO means Programmed Input/Output. Rather than have the BIOS issue a series of commands to effect a transfer to or from the disk drive, PIO allows the BIOS to tell the controller what it wants and then let the controller and the CPU perform the complete task by themselves. This is simpler and more efficient (and faster).

Your system includes two built-in IDE controllers, both of which operate on the PCI bus. This setup item allows you either to enable or disable the primary controller. You might choose to disable the controller if you were to add a higher performance or specialized controller. The choices are:

Enabled / Disabled

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