Does it make a difference if a Hard Drive is connected to the middle of an UltraATA cable and not the end?

[novon]

thanks

 

[4824guy]

No-unless you are using a ATA66/ATA100 ide cable. Those recommend you put the master device in the last connector, slave in the center, and blue end into the mobo or controller card. This is because there is a open conductor on some of these cables.

 

[Modus]

Isn't it Master-middle, Slave-end for ATA/66 cables?

Modus

 

[LocutusX]

It is "rumoured" that for ATA66/100 drives, the Master (if by itself) is better-off at the end of the cable rather than the middle. For similar reasons that SCSI drives need terminators, apparently.

A quick visit to the StorageReview forums should answer your question (and confirm my "rumour&quot😉.

 

[MallowJr]

Is it possible to add 'ATA 100' cards so you can add more hard drives instead of being limited to the 2 iDE cables on the mobo (for CDROMS nad hard drives, etc) ?

 

[SaturnX]

MallowJr: Yes the Promise ATA100 Card is one of the best, allows you to add another 4 devices.

--Mark

 

[MallowJr]

Well Hot Damn...my system is ATA 100 now though I heard for hard drives RPM is what really matters anywys?

 

[bacillus]

<< Isn't it Master-middle, Slave-end for ATA/66 cables? >>


I always been taught that it's the other way round.
black = master ,which is at the end of cable &amp; grey = slave which is the middle connector! blue end to m/board or controller card.

 

[StrangeRanger]

yes, black is master (end) and slave is grey (middle). and yes mallow (or whatever your name was), in my experience i noticed a MUCH bigger difference when i switched to a 7200 rpm drive than just upping from 33>66>100. but heck, ata 100 w/a 7200rpm drive sure is fine.
j

 

[salman327]

So if I have one hard-drive and 2 cd-roms, I can hook up the 2 cd-roms w/ one cable (DVD on master [end] and the cd-rom as slave [middle]). And then hook up the hdd on a seperate IDE channel?

 

[edjam]

Should be fine.

 

[Dufusyte]

Some people would recommend putting the two optical drives (CD, DVD) on different channels, because it would improve performance when you want to burn one CD directly from another (in case you ever do that).

Also, some hard drives (some Western Digital HD's, I think), allow you to set their jumpers to &quot;Cable Select&quot; so that they function as either Master or Slave depending on which cable connector you hook them up to.

 

[drewski]

i have had masters on the middle or at the end. by themselves and with another drive.

it has made no difference that i could see. i used whatever plug was more convenient (at the top of the case, all alone on the cable -> end; lower down -> middle).

on cable select, i've seen that on many hard-drives, not just WD. does that work with any cable or do you need a special cable select cable?

 

[MonstaThrilla]

I have no experience with the cable select option, but when I was putting in my PlexWriter recently and configuring the jumpers, the manual stated that you do need a special cable select...cable. 🙂

 

[Lvis]

Well when I installed my maxtor 60 gig a few weeks ago, it specified which end to put on the hard drive. I can't remember if it was the end or middle, but they probably had a reason for doing it that way.

 

[datallah]

Actually, read THIS it is a complete detailed explanation to IDE cables. The site is really really good and explains about different IDE/ATA modes as well as SCSI flavors.