Re: Whcih drive is which on IDE cable?

Brian A. wrote:
"Jerry" <Hello@xxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:46c12909$0$31254$4c368faf@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Brian A." <gonefish'n@afarawaylake> wrote in message news:eye$Uuc3HHA.5880@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
IDE drives on the same ribbon cable jumpered as Master/Slave can be attached to either of the connectors on the cable. Simply look at the jumpers on the back of the drive and remove the one that's jumpered as the Slave, unless you would happen to have the OS installed on it, which then you would remove the Master.
If they were to be jumpered as Cable Select then they would each need to be connected to the proper connector of a Cable Select cable. Cable Select uses a special cable that uses a CSEL signal by grounding pin 28 to the IDE controller on the motherboard and the wire for pin 28 only goes to the middle connector.
When a drive is connected to the middle connector on the CSEL cable, it identifies the CSEL grounded signal ( 0 value ) and configures the drive as the Master. A drive connected to the end connector of the CSEL cable does not have the grounded pin 28 wire in the connector so it doesn't receive the CSEL signal, the drive identifies it as a non-connection and configures it as the Slave drive.
If you swap the drives between the connectors on the CSEL cable, the drives Master/Slave configuration will swap on the drives as well. With CSEL cable the middle is always the Master and the End is always the Slave, doesn't matter or care if only one drive or two drives are connected.

--

Brian A. Sesko { MS MVP_Shell/User }
Conflicts start where information lacks.
http://basconotw.mvps.org/

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Way too much information and incorrect also. If the drives are jumpered for Cable Select and the Op is using an 80 conductor cable then the drive at the end of the cable is Master and the one in the middle is Slave.


It's quite correct and obviously not enough information. If a 40 wire/40 pin cable is used, which to date is still in use on many systems, either you purchase the proper cable or snip pin wire 28 between the host connector and the middle connector on the cable. It all depends on the age of the PC or if a user purchased a newer drive which included the 80 wire/40 pin cable.

With an 80 wire/40 pin cable it's not a fact that the Master is the end connector since the CSEL is implemented in both connectors, either connector can be used. The purpose it's stated by manufacturers that the Master gets connected to the end connector, is if only one drive is installed and it's connected to the middle connector it can lead to signal pass-through/degradation and possible data loss/corruption.


Try my favorite guide:

http://www.pcguide.com/ref/hdd/if/ide/conf_CS.htm

"However, when the 80-conductor Ultra DMA cable was introduced, the
cable select feature was much improved, changing the potential of
this feature. The two key changes were:

* Drive Position: Unlike the old cables, with the 80-conductor cable,
the master connector is at the end of the cable, and the slave is
in the middle. As I explained above, this is a much more sensible
arrangement, since a single drive placed at the end of the cable
will be a master, and a second drive added in the middle a slave."

The connector at the end of the 80 wire cable is filled first, for signal
integrity reasons. The second drive is added to the middle connector.
Having master on the end makes good sense, given this signal integrity
reality.

HTH,
Paul
.

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