Another dumb question on IDE cables...

[Jim Caldwell]

I have a Audigy sound card with the "Live- drive" I/O attached via a ATA
33/66 40- pin cable. I would like to replace it with a round UV IDE cable. I
think that they are all ATA 133/166 80-pin. Are these newer-type cables
backwards compatible, so that I can replace the old 40-pin ribbon cables
with one of these without affecting function?

 

[Will Dormann]

I have a Audigy sound card with the "Live- drive" I/O attached via a ATA
33/66 40- pin cable. I would like to replace it with a round UV IDE cable. I
think that they are all ATA 133/166 80-pin.

No such animal. Any ATA100 or 133 cable is 80-wire.
The connectors are all 40-pin.


-WD

 

[Jim]

Despite the error in description, the basic answer is Yes, typically, a
standard 40-wire 40-pin IDE connector can be replaced w/ an 80-wire 40-pin
IDE connector, it's backward compatible. Here's an example (
http://www.yesmicro.com/shop/product.aspx?cid=420&pid=10361 ). Notice that
the description specifically refers to backward compatibility w/ ATA33 HDs,
optical drives, ZIP, etc.

Jim

 

[Jim Caldwell]

Yea, of course....not "80-pin" but "80-wire". Thanks for the good answers
to both questions! Jim

 

[Gary Tait]

No such animal. Any ATA100 or 133 cable is 80-wire.
The connectors are all 40-pin.


-WD

IIRC, ATA66 is where they started using 80 wire cables.