[den9112]

since adding a second hard drive i started getting dropped frames were as previous to this (1 hard drive). i have my C: on the ide master d: on the slave , both on the same ide 1 channel . my dvd burner is on the second ide channel as second master . i dont know if my dropped frames are from my hard drive set up but this (dropped frames ) as only apeared since adding second hard drive , iwas hopeing someone could tell me if this set up is correct or do i have to swap arround . anyhelp would be appreciated .

[vonhosen]

I have hard drives on primary master & slave without any dropped frames.

(DVD burners on secondary master & slave)

Was always my understanding that mixing hard drive & DVD burner on the same channel would be worse as the channel would be limited by the speed of the slowest device (i.e the DVD burner would limit the hard drive)

Although Windows & my programs are all on the primary master drive the primary slave drive is just for capturing & editing video (nothing else)

I also defrag regularly (jury is out on whether that is totally necessary with modern systems) but definitely make sure that you don't have lots of background programs running hogging resources, or screensavers etc left on.

[MarkE19]

I have a preconfigured NLE PC specifically built/bought for editing from a specialist NLE company and all the drives are connected as yours and I've never had any problems with dropped frames.
I would suggest you get a drive testing programme. I think Pinnacle have a free download of one on their web site. If not try one of the disk companies such as Maxtor or other editing software companies.
Make sure that DMA is enabled for both drives. Make sure the editing prog is setup to use the capture drive for the scratch disk (temp area for video files etc).
Try replacing the IDE cable. Make sure the replacement is a full spec UDMA cable and not a cheaper IDE cable designed for a CD-ROM drive. I've seen it recommended that you don't use cable detect.

Few things to try then

Good luck,
Mark.