The vast majority of hard drives and CD/DVD drives are based on the IDE (Integrated Device Electronics) standard. There's also the SCSI standard, which is mostly used for servers or workstations. In comparison to SCSI, IDE is extremely cheap to produce, which accounts for its higher popularity. There are four subgroups within the IDE class: UltraDMA/33; UltraDMA/66; UltraDMA/100; and UltraDMA/133. The number at the end describes its bandwidth. As a rule of thumb, the higher, the better. 133, for example, stands for the maximum data transfer rate of 133 megaBytes per second. DMA is short for Direct Memory Access. A beginner doesn't necessarily have to know how DMA works in order to obtain good results.
Two drives can be run on each IDE connector block. Motherboards usually have two IDE connectors (Primary and Secondary IDE), so that a maximum of four devices can be connected. Modern motherboards with an additional controller can even offer four IDE connectors. If you want to connect an IDE to a drive, it is configured as a "Master" (Single). If, on the other hand, two drives need to be connected, one must be labeled "Master," and the other "Slave." The jumpers are used to connect the contacts, thus configuring the drive. The connection to the motherboard is made by way of a 40-pin ribbon cable. It has three plugs - one for the motherboard, and the other two for the two drives.
Most PC systems have one hard drive and one CD-ROM/DVD drive. CD-ROM burners are also a type of CD-ROM drive. The following configuration is recommended for IDE drives:
- Primary IDE: hard drive as Master (Single) Primary IDE:
- Secondary IDE: CD/DVD drive as Master (Single)
Users who want the full allotment of IDE components should connect the drives as follows:
- Primary IDE: hard drive 1 as Master (Dual)
- Primary IDE: hard drive 2 as Slave (Dual)
- Secondary IDE: CD/DVD drive 1 as Master (Dual)
- Secondary IDE: CD/DVD drive 2 as Slave (Dual)
There's usually a sticker on top of the drive explaining the necessary jumper settings. Or, you can also find a description in the hard drive manual.

IDE jumper table for a Maxtor hard drive.

Port panel on the hard drive: power supply, jumper blocks, IDE ribbon cable (from left to right).
Connecting the CD and/ or DVD drives is basically the same as with hard drives. The same rules apply.

CD-ROM port panel: digital audio, analog audio, jumper blocks, IDE cable, power supply (from left to right).
- Building A PC System
- Standard Components Of A PC System
- Standard Components Of A PC System, Continued
- Case And Power Supply
- Cases: More Questions For The Salesman
- This And That: Screws, Spacers & Jumpers
- Motherboard Overview
- Basic Motherboard Configuration
- Setting The Clock Speed
- Connecting The Floppy Drives
- Connecting Hard Drives And CD-ROM/DVD
- SCSI Drives - The Exception
- Safety Notice: The Destructive Potential Of Electrostatic
Create a new thread in the Reviews comments forum about this subject
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1 HideAnonymous , September 20, 2008 7:55 PMthanks,i hope my mum approves of my £700+ setup that i want lol
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1 HideMarco925 , May 6, 2010 3:44 PMSo Different compared to today's build it yourself article
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0 HideAnonymous , December 13, 2010 5:36 PMy is this so hard
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0 HideAnonymous , December 13, 2010 5:38 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0 HideAnonymous , December 13, 2010 5:43 PMThis is is so similar compared to today's build it yourself article
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0 HideAnonymous , March 31, 2011 7:45 AMThis is a pretty in depth guide on how to build a computer. I found How to Build a Computer pretty useful too.
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0 HideAnonymous , March 31, 2011 7:46 AMHow to Build a Computer is a pretty good guide too.
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0 HideAnonymous , August 11, 2011 12:57 AMMy son and his friend bought the components for a gaming pc. They had XP to put on the computer but it wont load. It has Linux on it. I don't know much about this sort of thing but could it be bc the XP is already been loaded on another computer? If I can find one of our op systems software that has an extra load on it will it load on the gaming pc with no problems? Just want to be sure in case I have to drop the money for the operating system.
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0 Hidejoeman99 , January 30, 2012 7:05 AMI always use this manual when building PCs, I never touch or buy any computer without it http://howtofixstuff.blogspot.com/2012/01/how-to-build-computer.html