Are you using the correct ide cables to get the max throughput from your IDE drives?
refresher on theoretical values:
ATA33 = 33 Mb/s
ATA66 = 66 Mb/s
ATA100 = 100 Mb/s
ATA133 = 133 Mb/s
these values are theoretical max for the single IDE port (That branches into 2)
normal values for ata66 are around 40-45 Mb/s per drive
and normal values for ata100 are around 60-75 Mb/s per drive
if you look closely at a few ide cables u will notice some are thicker + thinner then each other.. they come in a few different types even tho they arent clearly marked on the cable itself
two types:
1) 40-wire flat cable
2) 80-wire flat cable
in order to make proper use of ATA-66 + above you need to be using the 2nd type 80-wire flat cable or your hard disk will only achieve 33 MB/s
if u see that u are using the 1st type..
replace for better performance!
http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/printpage/Everything-you-Need-to-Know-About-ATA-66-ATA-100-and-ATA-133-Hard-Disks/45BE AWARE IF U ARE USING THE CABLES THAT GO TO THE CD/DVD in any Powermac G3 THESE CABLES ARE 99% LIKELY TO BE THE SLOWER ATA33 40 PIN!
if you are using a hard drive "under the cd" then this hard drive is not performing at its best when connected to this 40 pin ATA33 cable, ata33 is fine for old cd/dvd drives but not for enhanced ide UMDA6 drives!