FastATA MK-VI 4000

[videofx]

I am thinking of buying a FastATA MK-VI 4000 from Amigakit.

Anyone using one that can tell me what they think before I drop a boatload of money on it?

Thanks!

[alexh]

Why do you want one and what Accelerator do you have?

They are certainly faster than the A4000 IDE PIO0 but to get the published data rates you need a fast CPU.

If your goal is faster hard drive performance you should first try a different filesystem. PFS3 or SFS which are both many times faster than the A4000 default FFS. And free!

I don't know how much this card is but if you know someone who is an electronic technician, proficient at surface mount soldering you could upgrade the A4000 to PIO2 for much less. Just two $2 chips to replace

[videofx]

The only reason I was going to add the card was to get 2 IDE channels so the hard drive and Cd wold be on separate channels.

[fitzsteve]

You can buy a simple 4 way splitter for that purpose, put up a wanted thread, I'm sure you will find one easy enough and will be cheap. A4000 IDE is already buffered so it's just a simple splitter that gives you the extra channel.

[DarrenHD]

Originally Posted by alexh

Why do you want one and what Accelerator do you have?

They are certainly faster than the A4000 IDE PIO0 but to get the published data rates you need a fast CPU.

If your goal is faster hard drive performance you should first try a different filesystem. PFS3 or SFS which are both many times faster than the A4000 default FFS. And free!

I don't know how much this card is but if you know someone who is an electronic technician, proficient at surface mount soldering you could upgrade the A4000 to PIO2 for much less. Just two $2 chips to replace

I've heard varying opinions about the PIO2 update. I have the chips but I haven't put them in yet...not sure if one would want to go hacking the motherboard to put on those chips.

Anyway, what kind of speed do you get out of the Fast ATA ? With the PIO2 update I don't think you get much more speed, in fact I think some people measured no real speed increase, but others did.?!