The Notebook Review forums were hosted by TechTarget, who shut down them down on January 31, 2022. This static read-only archive was pulled by NBR forum users between January 20 and January 31, 2022, in an effort to make sure that the valuable technical information that had been posted on the forums is preserved. For current discussions, many NBR forum users moved over to NotebookTalk.net after the shutdown.
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.

    "Supported vs Active" UDMA mode?

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by scythie, Jan 15, 2008.

  1. scythie

    scythie I died for your sins.

    Reputations:
    79
    Messages:
    959
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    My apologies if this has been asked already. I couldn't find anything, so here goes...

    Here's a screenshot of HD Tune, under the 'Info' tab:
    [​IMG]

    So, I was just wondering, what does "supported" UDMA mode and "active" UDMA mode mean? Why are the two different? Does that mean my laptop's hard drive is running slower than it's supposed to? The "supported" mode seems like the higher/better one than the "active" mode. Do I have to change something? Or is it just really like this?

    BTW, my laptop's HD is a Seagate 160GB 5400 RPM, model number ST9160821AS.

    Thanks!
     
    scythie, Jan 15, 2008
    #1
  2. Jalf

    Jalf Comrade Santa

    Reputations:
    2,883
    Messages:
    3,468
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    105
    As I read it, the harddrive supports UDMA 6. But it currently runs UDMA 5 due to other external factors. (The cable or chipset can only handle UDMA 5 probably)
     
    Jalf, Jan 15, 2008
    #2
  3. M1chel

    M1chel Notebook Geek

    Reputations:
    26
    Messages:
    80
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    15
    My thoughts exactly. I think it's the chipset. BTW, I see the same exact thing on my Vostro 1700. I seem to remember that Ultra ATA/133 was "invented" by Maxtor and not widely supported (at least not when it was first introduced).
     
    M1chel, Jan 15, 2008
    #3
  4. Jalf

    Jalf Comrade Santa

    Reputations:
    2,883
    Messages:
    3,468
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    105
    yeah, so 133 isn't broadly supported, and it's fairly common that the drive ends up running UDMA5 at most.
     
    Jalf, Jan 15, 2008
    #4
  5. scythie

    scythie I died for your sins.

    Reputations:
    79
    Messages:
    959
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    Thanks for the response! So I guess I don't have to change any settings and my drive is just running normally, right?
     
    scythie, Jan 16, 2008
    #5
  6. M1chel

    M1chel Notebook Geek

    Reputations:
    26
    Messages:
    80
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    15
    I believe so.
     
    M1chel, Jan 16, 2008
    #6