Speed Up IDE with DMA

Microsoft Windows includes a Bus Mastering feature known as Direct Memory Access or DMA. When this DMA feature is enabled, it basically allows your Hard Drive and CD Rom Drive to transfer their information directly to and from memory without passing through the Microprocessor. Hence the word, Direct Memory Access.

In short, when your disk drives use Direct Memory Access to access their information, this reduces the load placed upon your Central Processor Unit (CPU) and therefore your system works faster.

1. Right-click on My Computer, select Properties
2. Select the Hardware tab
3. Click the Device Manager button
4. Double-click IDE/ATAPI controllers
5. Double-click on the Primary IDE Channel
6. Click on the Advanced Settings tab (as shown in figure) The tab may or may not be available for each option. It is only available in Primary and Secondary Channels.
7. Set the Transfer Mode to "DMA if Available" both for Device 1 and 0
8. Click OK
9. Perform the same operation for other items in the list, if applicable.

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Posted: 2009-01-04
By: FortyPoundHead
Viewed: 1,743 times

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Software Hack/Tweak

Windows XP

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