Twisting flat IDE cables (not rounded)

[DonIsHere]

I have two CD drives to connect with one 36-inch flat IDE cable. But, in order for me to align pin 1 properly on both drives, I have to physically twist the cable around because of the way the cable is situated when I plug 1 of them in.

Is it typical to have a real twisted flat IDE cable wig out like this?

thanks,
don

 

[BrunoPuntzJones]

<< Is it typical to have a real twisted flat IDE cable wig out like this? >>

yes
i have 2 maxtors in this rig, one right above the other, and both on the same cable. the connectors are so close together i can barely turn the bastard around to fit into the 2nd drive. it's a bummer

 

[flood]

mount one drive upside down

 

[flood]

or you can take teh cable apart and reassemble it the way you want it.

 

[Dan]

I have often wondered why IDE cables are manufactured that way. (So that a twist in the cable is required.) I guess though that if they started flipping some of the connectors people would be really confused!

 

[Aosh]

Urgh, I just hate IDE ribbons...period. I used to have a mini tower and lemme tell u...getting the perfect setup with the IDE cables took hours. Then I thought a full tower would solve my problem. Did it? No (big reason is cuz i have a ton of drives in it..but..) It was a pain to get a setup so that the cables would even reach the drives while staying out of each other's way......now i dread going back in there when I have to change/upgrade anything

I wish drives came standard with rounded IDE cables

 

[CTho9305]

I took a knife, cut mine apart, and rounded them with zipties
they bend sooo much more easily now

 

[TunaBoo]

Or with SCSI just run a SCSI cable between them

 

[FlipSide]

I would first put the cable on the drives then the connect to the MOBO. Depending on where PIN 1 is located. From what I have seen so far (CD/DVD/CDR-W drives) Pin 1 is on the right looking from behind the drive. Line up the ide cable and clearly see how you will connect it. This CD drives do not require ATA66/100 cabling for master/slave configs. Then connect the mobo end which is longer, and gives you more room to twist to match pin 1 on the mobo.

For hard drives that requires ATA66/100, picture the cabling requirement and decide which drive occupies the top or bottom slots.

If any twisting is required, you would like it to be between the mobo connector and the first ide connector as it is the longest and can handle the twisting.