Dell Optiplex GX270 IDE Cable Needed

[a]

I am trying to restore a Dell Optiplex GX270 small factor.
The motherboard has IDE1 and IDE2 connections. The former is unused,
and the latter is connected to the CD drive. The power cables
include a PATA (molex) connector, but no SATA. I have spare IDE hard
drives, no SATA drives. I think I should be able to connect a IDE
hard drive to the GX270 IDE1 - install an OS on it, and run the GX270
that way. Sound okay? (Please tell me if I can't)

Anyway, I need a flat ribbon cable to connect an IDE hard drive to
motherboard IDE1. I can't find one to buy. Anyone know where I might
find one? Otherwise I will have to buy a SATA drive and a IDE>SATA
power adapter. Just trying to go the cheapest route.

Thanks for any advice or info.

me

 

[Pen]

I am trying to restore a Dell Optiplex GX270 small factor.
The motherboard has IDE1 and IDE2 connections. The former is unused,
and the latter is connected to the CD drive. The power cables
include a PATA (molex) connector, but no SATA. I have spare IDE hard
drives, no SATA drives. I think I should be able to connect a IDE
hard drive to the GX270 IDE1 - install an OS on it, and run the GX270
that way. Sound okay? (Please tell me if I can't)

Anyway, I need a flat ribbon cable to connect an IDE hard drive to
motherboard IDE1. I can't find one to buy. Anyone know where I might
find one? Otherwise I will have to buy a SATA drive and a IDE>SATA
power adapter. Just trying to go the cheapest route.

Thanks for any advice or info.

me

Try B&H they sell them
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=&sku=753384&Q=&is=REG&A=details

 

[Pen]

I am trying to restore a Dell Optiplex GX270 small factor.
The motherboard has IDE1 and IDE2 connections. The former is unused,
and the latter is connected to the CD drive. The power cables
include a PATA (molex) connector, but no SATA. I have spare IDE hard
drives, no SATA drives. I think I should be able to connect a IDE
hard drive to the GX270 IDE1 - install an OS on it, and run the GX270
that way. Sound okay? (Please tell me if I can't)

Anyway, I need a flat ribbon cable to connect an IDE hard drive to
motherboard IDE1. I can't find one to buy. Anyone know where I might
find one? Otherwise I will have to buy a SATA drive and a IDE>SATA
power adapter. Just trying to go the cheapest route.

Thanks for any advice or info.

me

This one is even better
http://www.techxtend.com/PPI_US/Pro...rce=WEBGSHOP&gclid=CK3v1-W-lrgCFVIV7AodZ20AhA

 

[a]

Try B&H they sell them
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=&sku=753384&Q=&is=REG&A=details

Boy I am not familiar with the Aleratec Inc 1:1 HDD PortaCruiser. I
don't know if the cable ends are compatible with the IDE connections
on the Optiplex mobo.

Thanks for response.

me

 

[John McGaw]

I am trying to restore a Dell Optiplex GX270 small factor.
The motherboard has IDE1 and IDE2 connections. The former is unused,
and the latter is connected to the CD drive. The power cables
include a PATA (molex) connector, but no SATA. I have spare IDE hard
drives, no SATA drives. I think I should be able to connect a IDE
hard drive to the GX270 IDE1 - install an OS on it, and run the GX270
that way. Sound okay? (Please tell me if I can't)

Anyway, I need a flat ribbon cable to connect an IDE hard drive to
motherboard IDE1. I can't find one to buy. Anyone know where I might
find one? Otherwise I will have to buy a SATA drive and a IDE>SATA
power adapter. Just trying to go the cheapest route.

Thanks for any advice or info.

me

Available through Amazon.com for anything from $0.69 and up (just search
for "IDE CABLE") but I would think that any computer junk shop would have
them by the bushel and would be glad to get rid of them cheap.

http://www.amazon.com/40-Pin-Intern...UTF8&qid=1372966324&sr=8-3&keywords=ide+cable

 

[a]

This one is even better
http://www.techxtend.com/PPI_US/Pro...rce=WEBGSHOP&gclid=CK3v1-W-lrgCFVIV7AodZ20AhA

I'll have to somehow check closer to be sure I can connect the cable's
end to the Optiplex mobo. I am assuming that I can ignore the
controller card connector. What do you think?

Just out of curiosity, how would this Tripp Lite cable connect up to a
normal desktop mobo that has a IDE controller card plugged into a
mobo's PCI slot? Seems like the cable has an extra connector (to
me). I ask out of ignorance, so be gentle.

Thanks for response.

me

 

[a]

Available through Amazon.com for anything from $0.69 and up (just search
for "IDE CABLE") but I would think that any computer junk shop would have
them by the bushel and would be glad to get rid of them cheap.

http://www.amazon.com/40-Pin-Intern...UTF8&qid=1372966324&sr=8-3&keywords=ide+cable

Hmmm. I didn't think the Optiplex cable had the same ends as an
ordinary IDE cable, of which I have many. Shows how dumb I am.
I'll take a look at that possibility. Would be nice if it works.

Thanks

me

 

[Pen]

Hmmm. I didn't think the Optiplex cable had the same ends as an
ordinary IDE cable, of which I have many. Shows how dumb I am.
I'll take a look at that possibility. Would be nice if it works.

Thanks

me

The Optiplex uses a standard IDE cable. The normal ones have
3 connectors for the 2 drives allowed by the interface. You
can use a 2 connector one if you have no interest in a
second drive or just put the CD on the 2nd one.

 

[Ar]

The Optiplex uses a standard IDE cable. The normal ones have
3 connectors for the 2 drives allowed by the interface. You
can use a 2 connector one if you have no interest in a
second drive or just put the CD on the 2nd one.

It's not recommended to put a CD drive on the same IDE cable as a hard
drive, the hard drive speed will slow down a LOT. Use that only if
desperate.

 

[David W. Hodgins]

Anyway, I need a flat ribbon cable to connect an IDE hard drive to
motherboard IDE1. I can't find one to buy. Anyone know where I might
find one? Otherwise I will have to buy a SATA drive and a IDE>SATA
power adapter. Just trying to go the cheapest route.

Wherever you buy it from, make sure it's an 80 wire cable. They still
only have 40 pins on each end, but have extra ground wires, to reduce
"cross-talk", between the wires.

Regards, Dave Hodgins

 

[Paul]

It's not recommended to put a CD drive on the same IDE cable as a hard
drive, the hard drive speed will slow down a LOT. Use that only if
desperate.

Note: *Do not* visit this site. It uses aggressive advertising. If you
want to read the page for yourself, use Firefox, load the page,
then have Task Manager ready, to kill Firefox. As soon as the popups
appear, kill Firefox. Restart Firefox, select "new session", to throw
away any references to the site.

In any case, here is the relevant quote.

http://www.pcguide.com/ref/hdd/if/ide/confPerformance-c.html

"Independent Master/Slave Device Timing:

Hard disk controllers on modern systems support running the
master and slave device at different speeds, if one supports
faster transfer modes than the other. <---- [ Speed independent ]

Some systems, however, especially older ones, do not.

If you are using two devices with radically different maximum
transfer rates, and the chipset doesn't support independent
timing, you will slow down the faster device to the speed
of the slower one."

Your advice would have been appropriate more than ten years ago,
but now you have nothing to worry about. And you can test
this with HDtune if you want (benchmark your IDE drive, with or
without the CDROM connected on the same cable).

Paul

 

[Chris S.]

It's not recommended to put a CD drive on the same IDE cable as a hard
drive, the hard drive speed will slow down a LOT. Use that only if
desperate.

Nonsense. Maybe true 12 years ago....

Chris

 

[a]

(OP)

As usual I made things more difficult than they really were.
A normal IDE cable did suffice, and I have the Optiflex running with
an IDE HDD and an IDE CD drive (which I think I will change to DVD.

Thanks for all the helps.

me