“Have a look at the some of the newly released Linux
distributions, such as Linux-Mandrake 7.1 or SuSE Linux 6.4. They
all have native support for Ultra DMA 66 (also known as “Ultra
ATA/66” or “UDMA/66”). What is UDMA/66? Will your system support
UDMA/66? Never fear, Brian’s here!“
“UDMA/66 is an extension of the ATAPI specification for devices
which attach to an IDE controller. Currently there are five
supported Ultra DMA modes (numbered 0 to 4). The higher mode number
designates a faster data transfer between the controller and the
drive. Transfer rates are commonly measures in Megabytes per second
(MB/s).”
“Mode 0 and Mode 1 transfer data at 16.6 MB/s and 25 MB/s,
respectively. UDMA/33, which is on most every computer made in the
past few years, is Ultra DMA Mode 2 — this transfers data at 33.3
MB/s. Mode 3 transfers at 44.4 MB/s. Mode 4 is UDMA/66, which moves
data at 66.6 MB/s. Any controller or drive that supports a higher
mode (say Mode 4) will also support any lower mode, so older drives
still work with newer controllers, and newer drives work with older
controllers.”
Web Webster has more than 20 years of writing and editorial experience in the tech sector. He’s written and edited news, demand generation, user-focused, and thought leadership content for business software solutions, consumer tech, and Linux Today, he edits and writes for a portfolio of tech industry news and analysis websites including webopedia.com, and DatabaseJournal.com.
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