IDE Cable Alternatives

[urgatorbait]

I apologize if this is not the right forum for this.

I have been using the rounded IDE cable alternative to the flat ribbon cable for some time now. To be honest, I really can't stand them either. The sheaths at the connector ends always seem to slide way down and are generally awkward, don't flex well and such. While they may provide better air flow in my case than the the ribbon cable, they don't really do much to improve the appearance of a case's interior in my opinion.

Are there other options out there to alleviate this? Better made round cables? Or even better yet, are there newer optical drives out there (internal) that can connect to the mobo in a different way (maybe a USB connector on the mobo)?

Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.

 

[laitainion]

There are some rounded IDE cables that use a kind of netting material rather than plastic sheaths which I find is better, and some (I can think of one or two) new DVD writer drives that connect to SATA.
For the vast majority though, IDE (that is PATA) is the only option.

 

[JakFlaUsa]

Try this link. I use them and like very much.
Allows you to use SATA cable.

http://www.usb-ware.com/ide-to-sata-converter.htm

 

[sleepdeprived82]

I build my brother a new computer and it was the 1st build I have done that had no IDE cables. The case looked so much better without them.

I used SATA for the harddrive and this:
Samsung SH-W163 16x16 DVD±RW Serial ATA Dual Layer ReWriter (Black)
which is a sata dvd-rw at the same price as normal drives.

 

[The_OGS]

Hi guys,
I use these Silver (or Copper) shielded round IDE ATA133 cables:
http://www.bigfootcomputers.com/Mer...ROD&Product_Code=3116ROCA&Category_Code=420.5
...which cost only ~$10 bucks.
They are beautiful and have a high-quality braided shielding.
These are well made and gorgeous to look at (if you're into that sort of appearance detailing). The rubber is very 'gummy' and they reek of quality.
The same cables are available with a UV-reactive casing, which I will use in any case with a window (UV or not) because they look really expensive and trick...
Of course, with my Plextor SATA DVD I have none of them in my case personally, heheh.
But as you know, for any device IDE66 (UDMA4) or better, good cables are required. Even for IDE33 (UDMA2) these cables are very strongly recommended... and that covers pretty well everyone's burners.
So the old 40-ribbon cables are officially garbage, for any purpose - why then do most new mobos still come with one?
My old Pentium Pro has only Multi-word DMA Mode2 (16.6MB/s) controllers, but it too sports the very finest in cabling!
I have seen some crappy unshielded round cables, where the casing is all floppy and slips around as you described - those are to be avoided.
Unfortunately they can be found even at Bigfoot (link above) but they do not cost much less than the good cables.
Regards

 

[woshitudou]

I used to cut my cables between the wires then tape them together. I did this for a while until one time it didn't work well. Now I just cut the extract connector/ribbon off the end of my cable then fold the remaining ribbon in half twice so its thin like SATA then I tape it around. It works great.

 

[RichPLS]

I have done that too, but makes cable quite stiff... but does work... 8)

 

[urgatorbait]

I used SATA for the harddrive and this:
Samsung SH-W163 16x16 DVD±RW Serial ATA Dual Layer ReWriter (Black)
which is a sata dvd-rw at the same price as normal drives.

I just checked into the Samsung drive and it appears it is not available in the U.S.

The only other one I saw is the Plextor.

 

[sleepdeprived82]

Not sure about prices but www.overclockers.co.uk will ship it to the US.

I have noticed quite a few US people use it to get things not available in the US.

 

[urgatorbait]

Wouldn't there be compatibility issues playing US coded DVD movies and such? Not that I use it for that but would there be any other compatibility issues regarding regionality? Just wondering.

 

[rwpritchett]

I like to use these "piggy-back" cables for my IDE drives:

Round IDE FX Cables

They minimize the length of cable running from master to slave. In fact, master & slave must be right next to one another to use them. High quality shielding too.

 

[sleepdeprived82]

Im fairly sure windows controlls the region, It defaults to your region and you can change four times max.