Pioneer DVR-A03 and IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers

[Atlantis]

I have the pioneer DVD-RW DVR-A03 and also the excellent pioneer DVD-ROM DVD-106. I was wondering in what mode have you enabled it under win xp in IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers? PIO or DMA and if DMA what DMA is showing?

In Win XP my DVD-Rom is set to DMA and it shows Ultra DMA mode 4.
My DVD-R/RW is set to DMA but it shows Multi-Word DMA mode 2. Is this the best configuration for my DVD writer? How is "Multi-Word DMA mode 2" different than "Ultra DMA mode 2"?

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I also have a little off topic question but is related to this. I have a second hard disk that is capable of UDMA 6 but it shows it as "Multi-Word DMA mode 2"! What should I update, to get the UDMA 6? I have win xp and the service pack 1 and my system knows my first hard disk as UDMA 5. Thanks!

[alexnoe]

The DVR-A03 does not support UDMA, so Multiword DMA is the best you can get. UDMA does perform CRC check (thus the drive / the controller can see if data has been shredded due to poor cable quality), while MW-DMA does not.

[Atlantis]

Thanks! What about PIO? Should I set it to PIO?

[alexnoe]

PIO causes high CPU-load. Some crappy VIA chipsets will not even allow 1x speed on PIO mode.

Only use PIO if DMA fails, as explained in the FAQ

[Atlantis]

This week I upgraded my system. I got AMD Athlon XP 2600+ and this motherboard:
http://www.msi.com.tw/program/products/mainboard/mbd/pro_mbd_detail.php?UID=398&MODEL=MS-6570

The strange thing is that now Nero in “Multi-Word DMA mode 2” doesn’t recognize CD-RW and DVD-RW medias. It only recognizes them as CD-R and DVD-R. So I cannot erase them. The funny thing is that it still can write CD-R and DVD-Rs. When I switch the drive to PIO mode, it’s only then that Nero can work properly with CD-RW and DVD-RW medias! Strange!