Single ATA drive running as slave/w OS

[Progone]

I have an 80GB ATA drive, I have just installed a 250GB SATA2. Does it make any difference that the ATA is showing as slave? My OS is on the ATA slave drive. Is there any way to make this the master? Does it make any difference (performance whys) that it reads as slave? The computer loads and runs ok (so far).

edit, The ATA jumper is set to cable select. Drive is hooked up to first connection on IDE cable.

 

[Emerald]

If it really bugs you that much set the jumper to Master or use the second connection. It does not make a difference.

 

[Progone]

hmmmm, just realized the "first connection" could be either the one at the end or the one in the middle. Its hooked up to the middle connection, closest to the mobo. Not the one on the end of the cable. Is that considered the "first" connection on IDE cables? I was thinking its the first one from the mobo jack.

The only thing I am uncertain of is, is there a performance difference between master and slave?

 

[jitpublisher]

You can simply switch the drive to master, and the other one to slave. (Jumpers on the drive) and technically, the master drive should be on the end of the cable. Some boards are picky about this, others are not. Just have to try it.
However, performance wise all it makes no difference at all.

 

[Progone]

Best answer selected by Progone.

 

[Paperdoc]

To clarify, there are two ways of setting devices on an IDE port. One is to set one device to Master with jumpers and then connect it to the END (Black) connector (preferred). If there's a second device, it MUST then be set to Slave and (preferred) connected to the MIDDLE connector (Gray).

The other option is to set BOTH devices (or only one if that's it) to "CS" with jumpers. But then the one plugged into the END connector on the cable will be the Master.

OP did the CS method, but plugged it into the middle connector, and that made it the port's SLAVE. Then the BIOS fixed up the mistake (there was no port Master as there was supposed to be), then figured out that, since it was the only HDD around, it would be used as the Boot Drive and it all worked. Smart BIOS dealt with the small errors and made it work anyway.