Round IDE cables

[btvillarin]

Has anyone ever rounded their own IDE cables, especially ATA100? I only have one ATA100 HD and a CDRW, so instead of using both ATA100 cables, I used the one for the HD and the other with an ATA66 rounded cable. So far, after burning a couple musics CDs, no problems.

But, I wanted to round that ATA100 cable I have right now and replace the flat bulky one that's currently on my HD. I'm probably gonna attempt to right now, because I have at least a replacement. But, are there any tips? I was planning on cutting every 6 wires.

Here's the <A HREF="http://www.sysopt.com/articles/cabround/" target="_new">current article</A> I was reading, although I've read others.

Thanks for all, if any, input!

 

[Arrow]

I don't know how to round, but the ATA66 cable is actually the same thing as an ATA100 cable.

Rob
Please visit <b><A HREF="http://www.ncix.com/shop/index.cfm?affiliateid=319048" target="_new">http://www.ncix.com/shop/index.cfm?affiliateid=319048</A></b>

 

[btvillarin]

the ATA66 cable is actually the same thing as an ATA100 cable.

Oops...my bad...

Anyways, I messed up the cable. After some performance testing of the rounded cable using PCPitStop.com, I typed my results in Word. After saving it, I attempted to shut down IE. But, it froze...the first time ever in Win2K. So, I guess I messed up (I think I cut some wire unfortunately). There was a performance increase in my results with the cable. Here are the results, taken straight from my Word document (Note - I have 3 partitions):

<b>Normal ATA100 cables on Primary IDE:</b>
Cached speed 277.08 MB/s (201%) 306.22 MB/s (222%) 309.23 MB/s (224%)
Uncached speed 2.94 MB/s (84%) 6.37 MB/s (181%) 5.74 MB/s (163%)

<b>Homemade rounded ATA100 cables on Primary IDE:</b>
Cached speed 280.88 MB/s (250%) 308.59 MB/s (275%) 307.71 MB/s (274%)
Uncached speed 2.96 MB/s (86%) 6.47 MB/s (189%) 5.68 MB/s (166%)
(Right after shutting this document down, I attempted to shut down Internet Explorer. But, everything froze…) So, my homemade rounded ATA100 cables are messed up.

<b>Normal ATA100 cables on ATA100 slot 1:</b>
Cached speed 287.75 MB/s (209%) 309.37 MB/s (225%) 307.75 MB/s (223%)
Uncached speed 3.12 MB/s (89%) 6.46 MB/s (184%) 5.44 MB/s (155%)

 

[btvillarin]

I just did another test with my HD Back in the Primary IDE slot (just to see what happened...):

<b>Normal ATA100 cables on Primary IDE:</b>
Cached speed 277.2 MB/s (201%) 309.11 MB/s (224%) 309.02 MB/s (224%)
Uncached speed 3.08 MB/s (88%) 6.59 MB/s (187%) 5.83 MB/s (166%)

Any idea why the Uncached speed would be better than the first time I tested it???

Is there a better/more reliable way to test my HD performance?

 

[mjdunn]

I have had a lot of problems putting 2 hard drives on a round cable...locks up.

Have switched back to flat.

96.3 % of Statistics are made up.

 

[killall]

you can make your own round cables... just where the flat cables bulge thats the actual wires... you take a sharp knife and cut a slit about 2 inches long at around the middle of the cable between every two wires... then pull them apart and they should spread nicely along the entire lengths until you get to the connectors... cutting every wire doesnt take that long... you can have a master and slave cable done in 5 minutes... simple... just cut as short a length as you can to when you can tear along... to lower the chance of exposing a wire...

you do not strengthen the weak by weakening the strong

 

[btvillarin]

Yeah...I tried...

So far, no problems with my rounded ATA66 cable. I say ATA66, because that's what the box says. I bought it two years ago, before ATA100 was even introduced. So, the wires were still thick then. Anyways, the rounded ATA66 cable I did is working fine. It was just that ATA100 cable that gave me the problem, cuz I cut into some wires. Plus, the wires are pretty dang small. I'm probably gonna resort to buying some for my hard drive. As for my floppy disk, I'll just buy an extra so when I do get the time to round that, I'll have a backup.

Oh well, I guess I'm one story of a screwed up ATA100 cable. Tell Mikhailtech.com...

 

[Guest]

check out http://www.dansdata.com/rcables.htm for a note of warning on cables (length must be <18')

check out http://www.tweakmax.com/html/rd3/rd3-1.cfm for a review on "probably" the best rounded cables around - however, they aren't as good as normal "flat" cables (in terms of performance) :-(

 

[Guest]

Clickable >>><A HREF="http://www.dansdata.com/rcables.htm" target="_new">http://www.dansdata.com/rcables.htm</A>

Medication helps

 

[camieabz]

Cheerful.

Thats why I wanted to replace my 45cm cables either with shorter replacements or by cutting off the master section and just using them as single device cables.

If they don't work effectively, then why produce them?
You would think someone would prevent that, or at least provide a sticker with a warning.

<b> <font color=blue>They changed the sig of the week!</font color=blue> </b>

 

[Guest]

My supplier sold me 75cm ones :frown: , but is now selling shorter ones, although mine are heavily insulated but have slowed things marginally on HArd drive performance.

Medication helps

 

[btvillarin]

Man, it's amazing that I come back after a 6-week trip and a month later, there's more replies to my inquiry.

Anyways, after reading those links, they were pretty helpful in understanding what to do. Since <font color=blue>blue 18" cables</font color=blue> are selling for $12.95 at <A HREF="http://www.coolerguys.com/cpucool/round.shtml" target="_new">Coolerguys.com</A>, I was just gonna buy a couple there for my HD and CD-Writer. As for my floppy disk cable, I was just gonna round that myself, and I think that'll be pretty easy.