Self-made round ATA66/100 round cables.....

[Jaguar]

Hi,

I just made some ATA66 round cables by cutting up every 10 wires (except for the first two cuts which were every 11 and 9 cuts respectively because I miscounted the first 10 wires to 11---those SMALL wires are HARD to cound and cut ). In the process, it was inevitable that I did cut some insulation off a few wires, then I separately "patched" these exposed wires with some electrical tape, and then wrapped the entire bundled wires in another layer of electrical tape.

My question is, assuming I screwed up and introduced crosstalk in wires, or cut a wire, or left some exposed wire exposed (assuming I didn't inspect them THAT carefully...but carefully though), and because of these the cables won't work, is there any chance that it can do PERMANENT damage to my CDRW/DVD-ROM and hard-drives? Or is it ok to go ahead and try the cables, and just get machine-rounded ones in case these self-made cables don't work?

Laters

 

[jcovercash]

I dont know aboutt he damage question, But I couldnt burn CDs with my self made rounded cables, go ahead and buy some if you have a window kit it makes it look so much better than home made ones. But Like I said i am not sure about the damaging question. I know what you mean when you are talking about cutting those wires though whew.!.!

 

[Jaguar]

Yes! Cutting AND counting were HARD as H*LL!

 

[TunaBoo]

Here is the best way to round ata 66 (or any) cables.

I only use 1 device per IDE chan, but this may be different for you.

1) First I take off the midle IDE Connector.

2) Then I wrap electrical tape around it where the connector was.

3) Then I fold the cable in half, making it half as wide.

4) Next, I fold both halfs in half again going outward, making it 1/4 the origional side.

5) Finally, I use 5 natural colored zip ties (4 inch) to keep it together.

It is pretty bendable, and I can do ANYTHING with no erros (Including use my ata 100 hard drive and a CD-burner). If for some reason I did get errors, I could cut the ties and do it again.

Cutting cables is not only too much work, it is pretty darn stupid. It is a little more bendable, but my way is bendable if you work with it.

 

[Jaguar]

So, what's the worst thing that could happen if I go ahead and try the rounded ATA66/100 cables I self-made? In case it turns out that they introduce crosstalk, or that a conductor is exposed or actually accidentally cut, can their usage cause extreme problems like frying/shorting/"hosing" the whole system or fry individual components like the HDD/DVD/CDRW or even the motherboard and processor? Or, would the worst case scenario be more kind, and instead just produce data errors, thus allowing me to simply replace these cables and expect everything to be back in working order?

Sorry for the run-on sentences
Thanks

 

[Jaguar]

Any ideas? (a bump basically hehe)

 

[slipperyslope]

Personally I don't see that any permenant damage could be done(it will work, not work, or work with random errors). You could get some corrupt data but I don't think cross talk could damage the drive.

Jim

 

[Jaguar]

I hope so

I guess I'm just worrying too much because I certainly don't want a 2-dollar cable to ruin a 100-dollar hard drive or a 120-dollar motherboard

Laters

 

[Jaguar]

Oh btw, how about if I missed inspecting the cable thoroughly, and there is/are actual cut wires/conductors within the cable, would this do permanent damage to any other component/s? Or would these either not run altogether or produce errors, but would produce no other more serious/permanent damage to the HDD/DVD/CDRW or mobo?