IDE Cables

Discussion in 'Hardware' started by CarolH, Oct 19, 2006.

  1. CarolH

    CarolH Private E-2

    When installing IDE cables which is better, to put both hard drives, master and slave on 1 80wire cable and my DVD and CD on a 40 wire cable, or to put 1 hard drive and 1 optical on each cable. Thanks.
     
  2. Mada_Milty

    Mada_Milty MajorGeek

    I would put both hard drives on the same channel (primary) and the optical drives on another simply for ease of management.

    I'm not certain whether there's any significant performance/stability benefits of configuring it otherwise, but according to buildyourown.org, this is the best configuration.

    Please see this link
     
  3. hopperdave2000

    hopperdave2000 MajorGeek

    Yep- both HD's on the same 80pin IDE Cable on the same channel and both optical drives on a 40pin cable (or 80, it doesn't matter too much with CD drives) and put that on it's own channel....

    hopperdave2000 :)
     
  4. malware killer

    malware killer Private First Class

    Actually, you will get better results by using 80-wire IDE cables on everything; I've done some basic tests, transferring files from optical drives (both Master and Slave) with both types of IDE cables, and was surprised to find out how much better the optical drives worked with 80-pin cables. You won't see much difference if you're only READING a CD, but the 80-wire cable DOES make a difference when you're watching a movie, moving or copying files, and when burning CDs or DVDs.

    A few years ago, I read an article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base that indicated a difference in the use of 80-conductor IDE cables versus 40-conductor cables, which is what motivated me to see if it was just another M$ lie, or if there was any basis in fact. Though I'm a notorious cheapskate, I now install ONLY 80-wire IDE cables in the systems I build or repair, regardless of the type of device it will be attached to. You might have noticed that optical drive makers ship their drives with 80-wire IDE cables, and I remember seeing a User's Manual (from Lite-On, I believe) which stated that if the original 80-wire IDE cable became defective, it should only be replaced with another 80-wire cable, at the risk of data integrity when burning to an optical disk, and because DVD playback could be impaired by the use of a 40-wire cable.

    Good luck; hope this information helps you...
     
  5. hopperdave2000

    hopperdave2000 MajorGeek

    Intersesting, good to know.
     
  6. malware killer

    malware killer Private First Class

    Thanks, hopperdave2000; we seem to have similar interests in hardware...
     
  7. Wyatt_Earp

    Wyatt_Earp MajorGeek

    I concur with using 80-pin cables on everything. My Lite-On DVD-RW will not work correctly with a 40-pin cable. I couldn't read or write to CDs or DVDs. When I swapped the 40-pin cable with an 80-pin one, everything works great now.

    Oh, and definitely put the HDDs on the same cable and put the CDs on the same cable. Do not mix and match.
     
  8. CarolH

    CarolH Private E-2

    Thanks so much for all the help! I do have another problem but I will start a new thread for it. Thanks once again.
     

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