IDE Cable Connectors

[senior guy]

The distance between the master and slave connectors on the IDE cables that I have (or have ever seen) is only about 4" or so. I need a master-slave span of about 8" in order to connect a master HDD and a slave DVD-RW in my case. Can you guys suggest a place where I can get IDE cables that will do the job?

Thanks!

 

[Leros]

Use two cables?

 

[sniperruff]

put one on primary and the other on secondary

 

[senior guy]

Originally posted by: JToxic
Use two cables?

No can do... The other IDE connector on the board is fully utilized.

 

[corkyg]

Further utilized, how? Surely you have some combination that will work. Having your DVD/RW as a slave to the HDD is not a good idea anyway.

It should be the Master on the Secondary channel. Whatever you have there might be better elsewhere.

However - if you insist, there are longer IDE cables available. The 36" IDE cable has 12" between Master and Slave connectors.

36

 

[senior guy]

Originally posted by: sniperruff
put one on primary and the other on secondary

That doesn't work for me either... I have 3 HDDs and 1 DVD-RW with 2 IDE board-connectors.

I simply need a cable with twice the span between connectors! No such animal???

 

[Ike0069]

Lots of them for cheap

 

[JimPhelpsMI]

Hi. If you are using a non Cable Select cables, that is it has no wires that don't go straight through, you can put the center connector to the MB connector and some times the other two will reach. That would be a cable that can be used as Master & Slave. Otherwise you will have to find a cable that is long enough. Hope this helps, Jim

 

[VforVendetta]

I'm surprised this doesn't come up more often, and even more surprised that no one had a suggestion (besides "use a 36" cable") other than Jim.

 

[pcgeek11]

Originally posted by: corkyg
Further utilized, how? Surely you have some combination that will work. Having your DVD/RW as a slave to the HDD is not a good idea anyway.

It should be the Master on the Secondary channel. Whatever you have there might be better elsewhere.

However - if you insist, there are longer IDE cables available. The 36" IDE cable has 12" between Master and Slave connectors.

36

Be aware though:

" The maximum length for an IDE cable allowed by the ATA/IDE Standard is 18 inches. In some cases, this 18-inch length may not be long enough to span the distance from the motherboard or IDE controller to the drive bay. Although it?s possible to obtain or make a custom IDE cable with a length exceeding 18 inches, be aware that the devices attached to such a cable might not operate properly due to noise and/or signal attenuation. Possible problems can include anything from intermittent data errors to the drive not being recognized by the system. "

Also here:
http://www.a1-electronics.net/PcHardware/GenCompInfo/2002_3/IDECables.shtml

And if you think the length only applies to the older 40 wire cables:

" Aside from the above, the cable can be treated the same way as a 40-conductor cable. Since it is of higher quality, it can be used in place of a 40-conductor cable in older systems without any issues. However, it does not directly replace a 40-conductor cable select cable. Note also that the 18" length restriction associated with the original 40-conductor cable applies to this variation as well. "

Which came from here:
http://www.storagereview.com/guide2000/ref/hdd/if/ide/confCable80.html

It may not cause a problem but if it does, it could be hard to diagnose and could be intermittently problematic... I have known people to buy several hard disk thinking that was the problem when all they needed was a shorter cable.

pcgeek11

 

[Bozo Galora]

I used to run into that prob in older times (pre SATA) and had to make my own cables.
Buy the 80 conductor ribbon and ide connectors (at Fry's) and the connector "squeezer" tool. With 40 conductor cables its a snap, but in 80 conductor you have to make sure your cutting tool is super sharp so that the ends of adjacent wire channels dont touch.
Always check with magnifying glass after cutting to size.

 

[VforVendetta]

How is it that I cannot find a cable with a greater length between the master and slave than between the master and motherboard? I'm obviously not the first person to have this problem... are all 50 zillion cables out there made at exactly the same lengths?

 

[daniel49]

on older boards I have inverted the cable before and it worked??
other then that would suggest you move the hardware around or buy a pci controller and add another ide port if you can't find a cable that works.
In these days of 300 gb hd why do you need 3 hard drives anyway?

 

[Zepper]

And on 24" cables there is 8" between the middle and the end connectors. If you try hooking an 80 wire cable to the mobo at the middle conector, it is likely that the cable won't be recognized as 80-wire and all you'll be able to get on that channel is 33MB/sec. I'm pretty sure that there are groundings at the blue connector that aren't connected anywhere else.

.bh.