How long for pata cables?

[tdent1138]

I am close to getting a pata raidxl controller and - due to the configuration of my case - am mildly concerned about being able to route 3-5 pata cables from a pci card over to where the hard drives reside... Although I suppose in a server case that certainly shouldn't be a problem. Its just pretty tight in there...

So, does anyone know the 'normal' length and/or max length of pata cables?

Thanks

 

[mrbios]

The supposed max spec for cable length is 18 inches, but I have used a 24" cable before, and I didn't see any noticeable performance degration.

 

[redbeard1]

I have used 36" and 48" inch ata33 40 wire cables with no noticeable problems. Faster drives are supposed to be fussier than the old ones, but I know they do sell 36" ata66/100/133 80 wire cables. Supposedly the new drives can tell when there is signal loss and slow down accordingly to prevent issues.