IDE cable order?

[MarkFahey]

Quick question. Does it matter on what end you plug an IDE device onto? For instance: 1 hard drive and 1 DVD, you have the IDE cable coming from the Mobo and it has an end connector and a connector in the middle. Do you have to plug the HD into the end connector or the middle to make it the primary master? Or again does it matter?

Thanks!

 

[Bulldog13]

0---------------0---------0
mobo slave master

 

[jhites]

Your main disk drive should also be in IDE0

 

[Budman]

Blue end goes to mobo
Grey end goes to slave
Black end goes to master.

 

[RaiderJ]

Maybe I'm wrong, but it shouldn't matter PHYSICALLY how you set your drives on an IDE cable, if you set the drives properly as MASTER/SLAVE.

If you have a hard drive set as MASTER, and a CD-ROM drive as SLAVE, then it doesn't matter the physical location on the cable, each drive will retain its setting.

However, if you have both drives assigned to CABLE SELECT, then I do believe it matters where on the cable they are. In this case I believe MASTER is at the end, and SLAVE is at the middle.

 

[ElFenix]

Originally posted by: Bulldog13
0---------------0---------0
mobo slave master

the order (like that) doesn't matter unless you have cable select on. you can have the cable any which way you want if you have the drives jumpered for master/slave.

 

[Budman]

Yes the order does matter,if you dont use blue mobo,grey slave & black master you'll end up defaulting to ata33.

for ata66 speeds and up you must connect the drives in that order.


How to install a hard drive in a computer system.

Attach the black end of the cable to the drive and the blue end to the IDE Controller 1 on your motherboard. Usually, Pin 1 is labeled on the back of the hard drive, so line up the red edge of the cable with Pin 1. Pin 1 on the motherboard controller may not be labeled, so you will need to check your manual.

If you are installing a second hard drive in the system, you must connect the cable to this. Locate the middle gray connector on the same ribbon cable and attach this to the slave drive. Make sure to double-check your work.

 

[Budman]

one more link. http://www.plextor.com/english/news/atacable.html


one more from Seagate. ---> http://www.seagate.com/support/kb/disc/ultra_ata_66.html#5

Why is there a blue, a black, and a gray connector on my Ultra ATA/66 cable?

The 40-pin, 80-conductor cables support the Cable Detect feature. The blue (end) connector should be connected to the system board. The black (end) connector is known as the master position. The gray (middle) connector can be used for slave devices. Although an Ultra ATA/66 device should work fine in either the black or the gray connector, if you are having difficulty, consider troubleshooting with the drive in the black connector.

I hope you now see that is is important what colour goes to what device.


This gets asked faily often,I dont know why it's not in the FAQ's.

 

[RaiderJ]

Budman: You are not answering the original question. None of the links you provided describe where a drive has to be placed on the cable to make it a MASTER or SLAVE device.

And by no means does it make a ATA66+ drive run at ATA33 speeds if it is not on a certain location on the cable. I had 2 WD 80GB drives connected to the middle spot on a cable, and they both worked at ATA100 speeds.

Once again: It does not matter the physical location a drive is at for it to be a MASTER or SLAVE. The ONLY time this isn't true is when you have the cable select option on.

 

[jhites]

Originally posted by: RaiderJ
Budman: You are not answering the original question. None of the links you provided describe where a drive has to be placed on the cable to make it a MASTER or SLAVE device.

And by no means does it make a ATA66+ drive run at ATA33 speeds if it is not on a certain location on the cable. I had 2 WD 80GB drives connected to the middle spot on a cable, and they both worked at ATA100 speeds.

Once again: It does not matter the physical location a drive is at for it to be a MASTER or SLAVE. The ONLY time this isn't true is when you have the cable select option on.

It did use to make a difference. The new controllers and cables do not require that the master be connected to the end of the cable any longer.

I still do it out of habit.