Ribbon Cable - what plug = which drive?

[Kelemvor]

Stupid question but I can never remember. On a standard ribbon cable if I'm attaching 2 Hard Drives, does the drive that gets plugged in on the end get registered as the primary or does the one in the middle?

I can never remember how it works.

I'll have 2 HDDs and 1 DVD in my PC and just need to make sure the HDD with the OS on it gets read first...

Thanks.

 

[minendo]

End = Master if Cable Select is being used.

 

[LordMorpheus]

end plug=master

middle plug=slave

end plug that is farthest away from the other two = what you connect to the controller. I'm not sure if this matters on not, but it sure makes things easier and neater.

 

[Bassyhead]

if you use jumpers on the drives to select master/slave configurations then the order on the cable should not matter, otherwise cable select configuration will mean the master is on the end of the cable.

 

[compudog]

Originally posted by: Bassyhead
if you use jumpers on the drives to select master/slave configurations then the order on the cable should not matter, otherwise cable select configuration will mean the master is on the end of the cable.

Yep.

 

[Kelemvor]

I've pretty much always used Cable Select. Is there any benefit to using jumper settings other than not having to worry about where you plug things in?