UDMA 2... wtf?

[Jason425]

OK, so they're the same model drive.. but I got the first one several months ago when they came out.. and got the new one just recently.. they look different.. but are the same model.. so take a look at the pic.. why is the first udma5 but the other is udma2?

Looks like either the software is reporting the drive wrong or Western Digital is pulling a fast one by remarketing old drives. :/

[Jason425]

when i was setting up the raid in the bios utility thing it said the first drive was ata 100 and the 2nd was 33... I figured that was so they could add up to 133.. or is there more to it than that?

I did a search for any Western Digital 80GB drives with "JB" in the model number that would not be ATA 100 and couldn't find anything. All of the current WD drives state they are ATA 100.

What I would do is check for any BIOS updates. Then I would check for any RAID driver/utility updates. Also, you might want to check VIA's web site for any FAQs or forums.

Also, see if you can find another utility that will identify the hard drives to see if it comes up with the same info. The only thing I can think of that might do it would be SiSoft Sandra.

Hope this helps. :/


EDIT: One other thing you might try... Call Western Digital and speak with Tech Support. If the drive is faulty, I'm sure they will replace it. You never know, you might get a better drive out of it.

[Jason425]

pretty sure i've got the latest bios.. and I just got the newest raid util the day I posted that pic...


so both drives should be running @ 100 even though they're in raid 0? i have sandra.. when I get home i'll see what it says, besides the poor benchmark scores...

I don't see any reason why the software would report anything other than what the drive actually is. Unless, the software is buggy.

I have similar drives in my computer running in RAID 0 configuration. Let me see what I can find out on my own computer and report back.

[Jason425]

it's via.. i'm not going to take anything for granted :P

[Uranium-235]

be sure you have the latest IDE (motherboard) drivers installed

[Jason425]

as in the chipset drivers?

Unfortunately, my windows RAID manager doesn't give any details about the drives. Just the status of the RAID. However, when starting up, I'm able to access the RAID controller and it does give the details. Both drives are reported as identical in model number and UDMA 5.

Can you access you RAID controller via the BIOS or during startup?