am i correct in saying that the only thing you need to run a dual hd system is the proper ribbon IDE cable that has two connectors? I'm considering putting in an extra hard drive in one of my boxes, but I notice the current ribbon only has one connector. You slave a mutiple hard drives on the same IDE channel don't you without needing its own channel, right? - I opened a few other boxes I had lying around to compare, and from what I saw, this is a possible conclusion, but I'm not sure.
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specifics on slaving a hard drive
- Thread starter NuJoizey
- Start date
You can use the same IDE ribbon to slave 2 hard drives 2 optical drives(Cd-rom,DVD etc..) or a combination of both.
You'll need to also set the jumpers to the slave position in the drive to be slaved. Each manufacturer has its own way of setting its drives to slave. so you'll have to look on the drive itself for the jumper positions. Usually there is a label that specifies the positions.
Also know that for ribbons with 2 connectors, you'll need to connect the master drive to the end of the ribbon, and the slave to the middle connector.
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Ignorance is not necessarily Bliss, case in point:
Unknown has caused an Unknown Error on Unknown and must be shutdown to prevent damage to Unknown.
You'll need to also set the jumpers to the slave position in the drive to be slaved. Each manufacturer has its own way of setting its drives to slave. so you'll have to look on the drive itself for the jumper positions. Usually there is a label that specifies the positions.
Also know that for ribbons with 2 connectors, you'll need to connect the master drive to the end of the ribbon, and the slave to the middle connector.
----------------------------------
Ignorance is not necessarily Bliss, case in point:
Unknown has caused an Unknown Error on Unknown and must be shutdown to prevent damage to Unknown.
- Thread starter
- #3
Yes, you'll need a ribbon with 2 connectors. as All IDE connectors support 2 devices.
But i'm sure if you have a CD-Rom of some kind, that there is at least another IDE connector. or are they SATA drives?
----------------------------------
Ignorance is not necessarily Bliss, case in point:
Unknown has caused an Unknown Error on Unknown and must be shutdown to prevent damage to Unknown.
But i'm sure if you have a CD-Rom of some kind, that there is at least another IDE connector. or are they SATA drives?
----------------------------------
Ignorance is not necessarily Bliss, case in point:
Unknown has caused an Unknown Error on Unknown and must be shutdown to prevent damage to Unknown.
- Thread starter
- #5
no they're not sata. there are 2 separate ide channels, one marked primary, the other marked secondary. The one marked primary is plugged into the hd. the one marked secondary is plugged into the cd rom. I'd like to keep the cd rom, so therefore I'd like to have two hd's on the first channel, but as I said, the ribbon only has one connector. I thought I'd just pop one of the ones out of a really old pc (> 7 years) that has 2 connectors (that shouldn't matter, right? - IDE hasn't changed since then, has it?) and use it.
Technically speaking the old IDE cable should work just fine.
----------------------------------
Ignorance is not necessarily Bliss, case in point:
Unknown has caused an Unknown Error on Unknown and must be shutdown to prevent damage to Unknown.
----------------------------------
Ignorance is not necessarily Bliss, case in point:
Unknown has caused an Unknown Error on Unknown and must be shutdown to prevent damage to Unknown.
LWComputingMVP
IS-IT--Management
Depending on the hard drives and controllers, you MIGHT NOT be able to use the old cable (or at least SHOULD NOT). Newer drives should be using 40pin/80conductor cables - these have a finer set of wires on them.
Note this image:
Note: if you have a primary and secondary IDE connector, then you can have a MAXIMUM of 4 devices without the use of 3rd party PCI cards. It generally doesn't matter which ones are where... the C: drive (primary hard disk) should be primary master, after that, it doesn't matter much - the drives will work on any of the other 3 connections possible.
Note this image:
Note: if you have a primary and secondary IDE connector, then you can have a MAXIMUM of 4 devices without the use of 3rd party PCI cards. It generally doesn't matter which ones are where... the C: drive (primary hard disk) should be primary master, after that, it doesn't matter much - the drives will work on any of the other 3 connections possible.
- Thread starter
- #8
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