IDE cables,can you get them wrong way round

[Broadkipa]

I fitted a new hard drive to one of my PCs last night and while I was transfering the data back from the back up drive I actualy read the fitting instuctions. Now in the manual it says to have plug on the end of the cable on master and the plug two thirds up on slave. I realised I had put them on the other way round. When the data had transfered and the computer rebooted all went well and Windows apeared right on cue. My question, does it matter which way the plugs go, cant see any problem with my setup yet. Master and slave are set correctly but there must be a reason why they recomend the plugs one way round!

 

[Ionizer86]

I heard you can have the cable backwards as long as you set master/slave. Some people install cable backwards for better device hookup in the case.

 

[amdskip]

Its not a problem at all. I run them backwards all the time.

 

[GtPrOjEcTX]

does not matter

 

[boran]

it only matters if you would use cable select I think. because the slave connector does not have that pin connected. but I doubt that even reversed this would be a big issue.

 

[JustAnAverageGuy]

It doesn't matter unless you use cable select.

 

[Matt84]

Yep, doesn't matter unless cable select is used. I always perfer to set Mast/Slave myself ne way

 

[RockV]

The orientation of the Master and Slave on the cable will make a difference only if you are using Cable Select (CSEL or CS) to determine the priority of the drives. This is because pin 28 is grounded on the Master connector (Drive 0) and open or not connected on the Slave (Drive 1).

If you are using older components not all cables, motherboards and drives may recognize Cable Select. All of these components must recognize Cable Select for it to work successfully.

Do not attempt to use Cable Select with any cable unless it has three differerent colored connectors. The blue end connector attaches to the system board or host controller, the grey middle connector goes to the Slave, and the black end connector goes to the Master drive.

If you are using the Master and Slave jumpers to set the drive priority then the cableing sequence will not be important.

 

[Broadkipa]

Thanks all for all your replies, At least that has cleared that up for me.

 

[thorin]

If it's cable select then blue goes to the mobo. Also remember the red stripe goes to pin 1 (though most connectors should be keyed these days).

Thorin