Joe's Comments on the results: Here's Joe's comments on the cable tests:

" The real eye opener is when I changed the cables out to perform additional tests.

I could not record any discernable performance differences when using ATA 40-wire 40-pin cables on the drives as opposed to the required ATA/66 80-wire 40-pin cables. ... [ I also saw no difference last year with either cable type in a B&W G3 (which has a ATA/33 controller however), noted in the B&W G3 IDE slave drive article.-Mike] I tested all the controllers (Apple on board, Promax, and Acard) with both disks and the results were similar. (Only the Apple on board controller test with the ATA cables switched is included in the test results.)

When I change the data modes on the hard disks from mode 4 ATA/66 to mode 3 ATA/33 the performance of the drives were almost identical.

Based upon all the information I can find about the ATA/33 and ATA/66 standards, THERE SHOULD BE SOME NOTICEABLE PERFORMANCE DIFFERENCES IN DATA TRANSFER SPEEDS WHEN ALL THE ATA/66 STANDARDS ARE NOT MET ON THE HOST SYSTEM.

It appears to me that the primary component to the ATA/66 standard is the 80-wire 40-pin cable whose presence is supposed to be detectable by the controller and the drive. The additional 40 ground wires in the ATA/66 cable is what is responsible for the increased signal speed across the wires that make the ATA/66 standard of data transfer rates achievable. [ The additional conductors are for shielding to ensure a clean signal at the higher rates, avoiding possible errors. Perhaps there is a higher chance of data errors with the unshielded cable that would not show in pure benchmarks-Mike.]

What gives???
Are we all being duped???
Is the ATA/66 standard all "Smoke and Mirrors"???

I called Segate tech support about my cable swapping findings; they didn’t seem to have an answer. They thought maybe it might be the Mode setting on the drive though the ST328040A Barracudas supposedly shipped with Mode 4 enabled. (Some manufactures ship ATA/66 drives with Mode 4 disabled because of Bios problems with some of the older computers they are installed into. On the batch of five Barracudas that I tested, one of them shipped in Mode 3, the ATA/33 standard.) They also said that their Mac user base was very small and that they didn’t have very much experience with Macs or their ROM.

I also called Apple tech support and discussed the cable swapping tests with them in regards to the on board ATA/66 controller. An incident number was opened. They haven’t gotten back to me about this yet.... Sincerely,
Joe Dylik
Computer Administrator
Centermark Graphics"

Related Links:

• IDE RAID Performance Test Results
  (2 and 4 drive tests with up to two IDE controllers)
• IDE Raid How-To (Hardware and Software Install)
• Acard ATA/66 vs TurboMax ATA/33 Performance
• ACard ATA/66 vs Onboard ATA/33 Mac IDE Real World Tests
• Review/Tests of new Maxtor Plus40 40GB
• IDE RAID Feedback (Turbomax card owners)
• My TurboMax IDE Card Review
• Thad Brown's TurboMax Performance Tests in a Umax S900
  (IBM/Maxtor IDE drives compared to S900's SCSI IBM and Barracuda drives)
• Beige G3 IDE Hard Drive Upgrade guide
• B&W G3 IDE Slave Hard Drive Upgrade guide
• Proline's low-cost/easy install Hard Drive Bracket (see my installation article.)
• Links to IDE standards and definitions (thanks to Jeff Relm)
• Proline's low-cost B&W G3 HD Bracket (adds a drive over the CDROM)
• 9600 Onboard SCSI vs PCI Card (with stock 4GB Drive)
• More Onboard SCSI vs PCI Card Tests (Narrow SCSI drives)
• 8600 4 Drive Internal RAID (works w/9600 as well)
• Raid in a 7500 (tips on installing two drives inside)
• Cheetah HD & PCI SCSI card upgrade to 8500 (illustrated guide)
• Complete List of Controller/Disk/RAID Articles including RAID tests (5 SW packages) and 4 UW SCSI card head-to-head review. Too many articles to list.