Please Help! Simple E-IDE Cable for DVD-R Question

[ELB]

I need an E-IDE cable for my new DVD-R, a Samsung SH-S162L, and most seem to say "ATA 133" compatible, which to my understanding is a hard drive protocol. I was just wondering whether these 133-capable cables will work with my DVD-R or do I have to look for something specific?

Please advise -- any input would be very much appreciated.

Thanks.

 

[Mondoman]

EIDE and ATA-133 are just interface specs for any type of drive. Doesn't matter if it's an optical drive or hard drive, so go ahead and use the ATA-133 cable. Just remember that it *does* matter which end plugs into the board, and to connect the drive to the end (not middle) connector if you're only connecting one drive to the cable.

 

[jimw428]

Just remember that it *does* matter which end plugs into the board, and to connect the drive to the end (not middle) connector if you're only connecting one drive to the cable.

It "does not" matter. I believe you're thinking of a floppy cable.

If the cable is a flat ribbon, (most are) with no twisted wires to either connector, you can plug a single drive in either connector.

IDE supports 2 drives per channel, a master and a slave, which is determined by jumpers on each drive. If you are installing a single CD/DVD, drive just be sure the jumper on the rear of the drive is set to "master" and you can use either connector.

I usually use the middle connector on my drive so I can tuck the excess cable in an empty bay.

 

[thelostchild]

Just remember that it *does* matter which end plugs into the board, and to connect the drive to the end (not middle) connector if you're only connecting one drive to the cable.

It "does not" matter. I believe you're thinking of a floppy cable.

If the cable is a flat ribbon, (most are) with no twisted wires to either connector, you can plug a single drive in either connector.

IDE supports 2 drives per channel, a master and a slave, which is determined by jumpers on each drive. If you are installing a single CD/DVD, drive just be sure the jumper on the rear of the drive is set to "master" and you can use either connector.

I usually use the middle connector on my drive so I can tuck the excess cable in an empty bay.

Most dives are set to Cable Select as default, or thats how I've usually found them so sometimes the cable does make a difference if you don't want to mess around with jumpers the whole time

 

[jimw428]

I don't share your experience with drives being factory straped to "cable select". I just pulled a brand new NEC drive from my stock and it's jumpered "master". I don't ever recall seeing an IDE drive factory set to cable select.

Since most MB's are shipped with cheap flat ribbon cables, using common connectors, cable select strapping wouldn't make much sense.

Cable select defaults to master in single drive configurations when using standard cables. But you have the same problem you would have with 2 drives jumpered to master if both drives are set to cable select and you are using a standard ribbon cable.

Keep in mind that the IDE bus expects each device to have a unique address. Without the proper cable, cable select doesn't work with multiple drives since both will appear to have the same address.

 

[misry]

You guys don't use 80 conductor cables much do you?

Using a HD IDE cable, (80 conductors, recommended for =/> 100MHz bus), one can easily have both drives set as CS. I do it every day and twice on Sunday. The 80-pin cables have an "internal twist" that is, functionally but not electronically, the same as a floppy cable.

All new PATA drives come with an HD, aka 80-pin, cable. (there are really only 40 holes at the blocks, the other 40 conductors are for ground and control. they reduce crosstalk on the higher freq. bus and allow cable select to actually do something.)

The only time I play with drive jumpers anymore is for PATA RAID and to downgrade a SATAII to a SATA.

 

[Mondoman]

It "does not" matter. I believe you're thinking of a floppy cable.

No, but I should have clarified: it does not matter electrically, but almost all IDE cable have 2 connectors near each other, with the 3rd connector further away. Since the MB IDE header is often some distance from the drive, it is usually better from a cable management standpoint to plug the "lone" connector end into the MB.

If the cable is a flat ribbon, (most are) with no twisted wires to either connector, you can plug a single drive in either connector.

Physically that is true, but electrically, if a single drive is plugged into the middle connector, the cable signal wires won't be properly terminated at the (unplugged) end of the cable. The termination issue won't guarantee that the drive won't work, but is certainly something to correct IF there are problems with the drive.

 

[4Aces]

Just remember that it *does* matter which end plugs into the board, and to connect the drive to the end (not middle) connector if you're only connecting one drive to the cable.

It "does not" matter. I believe you're thinking of a floppy cable.

If the cable is a flat ribbon, (most are) with no twisted wires to either connector, you can plug a single drive in either connector.

IDE supports 2 drives per channel, a master and a slave, which is determined by jumpers on each drive. If you are installing a single CD/DVD, drive just be sure the jumper on the rear of the drive is set to "master" and you can use either connector.

I usually use the middle connector on my drive so I can tuck the excess cable in an empty bay.
The middle connector is meant for slave, that's why it is grey and the one on the end is black for stock ide ribbon cables. Any IDE cable will work there is no longer the 40 or 80 conductor issue unless you're using a cable from a real old comp. If you have two optical drives there's a cable called IDE-FX which uses a combination of round and ribbon cables, cuts down on clutter.

 

[maury73]

Any IDE cable will work there is no longer the 40 or 80 conductor issue

That's completely false: it can work if you have a very great ass (read: extremely lucky) but nothing will run reliable over 33MHz without the additional shield wires.
ALWAYS use 80pin cables with ATA66, ATA100 and ATA133: failing this your interface will automatically slow down the clock rate when it detects checksum errors.

 

[Mondoman]

Maury, you're 100% right of course. I think 4Aces just meant to say that you're not at all likely to find a 40-conductor IDE cable anymore, so any "IDE cable" should be an 80-conductor one and thus OK to use.

 

[maury73]

Yes, you're right, the new high quality mobo packages include only 80 wires cables, but not all, so it's wrong saying a newbie that any cable would work

 

[MegaManExtreme2005]

To put it simply,Yes it should work without a problem.The EIDE and ATA133 are basically the same in terms of connector type and spec wise.I'm using it for my DVD writer and 3 hard drives and they work fine.

 

[maury73]

The EIDE and ATA133 are basically the same

Completely wrong.
EIDE is Extended IDE and is a standard 15 years old. It's IDE plus the DMA ability and MMC commands support.
It has nothing to do with ATA133 that simply the specification for 133MB/s DMA transfers over EIDE.
IDE and EIDE are the interface specifications (electrical and physical), while ATAx are the protocol and bus specifications for high speed DMA transfers over the IDE connection, they aren't the same thing.

 

[MegaManExtreme2005]

If that's the case why do my 3 hard drives and dvd writer work fine?

 

[maury73]

The optical drives at most use the ATA2 specification (33MB/s), no more is needed for them because there is no device other than an HD that can sustain more than 33MB/s.
For the HD you surely use 80 wire cables (they are included in all mobo packages) and they work for any ATA specification, only the 40 wires have the ATA-2 limit.
However they'll work anyway also with higher specification, they'll simply run slower and in a Windows sucking OS you'll don't see much difference.