Chapter Summary

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The following points summarize the key concepts in this chapter:

CD-ROM Drives

• CD-ROM data transfer rates are based on a factor of 150 KB per second.
• Before a CD-ROM drive can be accessed by the processor, the proper drivers must be loaded.
• To run a CD-ROM drive from MS-DOS, the real-mode drivers must be loaded.

Advanced Hard Disk Drives

• For many years, hard disk drives were limited to 528 MB.
• There are four ways to overcome the 528-MB Barrier: LBA, Enhanced CHS translation, Fast ATA, and DMA transfer.
• EIDE controllers and I/O cards support up to four EIDE drives including hard disk drives, tape drives, CD-ROM drives, and removable disk drives.

SCSI Drives

• SCSI chains can have up to eight devices, including the host adapter (or 16, depending on the configuration) connected together.
• SCSI chains must be terminated at both ends.
• Each device in a SCSI chain must have a unique ID.
• RAID uses SCSI drives to provide improved data storage and fault tolerance.