Rounded IDE cables

[kwo]

Guess I should *really* kick myself as I also got a 36" to run from an IDE card in my lowest PCI slot all the way up to my top 5.25" drive bay....Ugh..

Anyone want some rounded cables?

I am still curious about the possibility of a utility

 

[Demon-Xanth]

slickone:
Yes, I've read that article. In the case of these cables, the pairs are actually twisted together (80 conductor mind you, half are grounds) which if anything, will help. As far as "the engineer doesn't know it will be rounded" goes, consider that cables are often folded, run along the case, run straight over the motherboard, and everywhere else. If they're not engineering with a large margin for noise, they're schmucks. As far as that cable with the extra ground lead, I wasn't talking about that one. But given that it only is grounded on one end the shield is virtually worthless as a shield. It's an antenna. I know this because I've had to deal with exactly that problem. It feeds the noise INTO the item that you're grounding, and RF knows no ground. As far as other rounded cables, consider that there's some VERY long external SCSI cables that are made round without issue.

<-- has spec'ed in cables, worked with EMI and RFI suceptibility testing (UL/CSA), and has had to deal with cables that don't meet specs.

Would I trust a 36" cable? Not unless it was for a short time in a pinch. Would I trust a 24" cable? At UDMA/33 sure. (and I am). Do I trust rounded cables? Yep.

 

[Slickone]

Originally posted by: Demon-Xanth
In the case of these cables, the pairs are actually twisted together (80 conductor mind you, half are grounds) which if anything, will help

So are you saying these cables at pctoyland are actually better than most rounded cables and wouldn't apply to the problems people have found with rounded cables?

Would I trust a 36" cable? Not unless it was for a short time in a pinch. Would I trust a 24" cable? At UDMA/33 sure. (and I am)

What about at UDMA/100+?

It seems odd those companies would add a grounding strap if it didn't help/made things worse, when they could have grounded the other end as well at really no extra cost. Surely they're not that stupid and cost wouldn't have been any more. Why do you figure they did that?

I remember you now, who gave input on my FRS/GMRS radio question. Thanks.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Originally posted by: Demon-Xanth
Yes, I've read that article. In the case of these cables, the pairs are actually twisted together (80 conductor mind you, half are grounds) which if anything, will help. As far as "the engineer doesn't know it will be rounded" goes, consider that cables are often folded, run along the case, run straight over the motherboard, and everywhere else. If they're not engineering with a large margin for noise, they're schmucks. As far as that cable with the extra ground lead, I wasn't talking about that one. But given that it only is grounded on one end the shield is virtually worthless as a shield. It's an antenna.

Are you talking about a round, shielded, ATA-133 cable, with a seperate ground strap, or without? I guess I don't totally understand what you are sayng. It makes a certain amount of sense, that "shielded" cables, that are only grounded on the motherboard end, would indeed act much like some sort of antenna, but perhaps that's why they added a seperate ground strap, to connect to the chassis ground at the device end as well? If the shield was in fact grounded on both ends, wouldn't it then function properly? (Almost like a metal wiring conduit run outdoors, grounded at both ends for lightning-protection?)

I have still yet to buy into the "rounded cable hype" myself. However, I'm contemplating shielded flat ATA-133 cable, as I've recent had a few problems with induced signal noise. My PCI IDE controller card is right next to the big metal RF box on my PCI TV-tuner/video-in card. A few times, the IDE cables that are folded down between the cards must have moved, and picked up some noise from tuner. (I think. I'm not really sure. I had some severe "IDE CRC ERRORS" in SMART, along with drive spindows and hard freezes not too long ago.)

I also have some extended-length (24", I think) ATA-133 cables, but I don't use those for the HDs, only to reach between my mobo IDE connectors and my optical drives, which are only ATA-33. I figure that they should be ok for that purpose.

Edit: Corrected, 24" IDE cables, not 36".

 

[lobadobadingdong]

and good reseller ratings, though it's only 12 reviews.

 

[zxcvb]

now 2.95 ea now