Ribbon Cable

[BP]

I want to reconfigure my Master/Slave devices but the 40/80 ribbon cable
connections wont span from the 3.5" bays to the 5.5" bays as I need them to
do what I want. Do they commonly make longer ribbon cables, longer between
the master and slave connections? Is this something you can pick up
anywhere, like CompUSA, etc?

 

[Rod Speed]

I want to reconfigure my Master/Slave devices

Why ?

but the 40/80 ribbon cable connections wont
span from the 3.5" bays to the 5.5" bays as
I need them to do what I want.

Yep, thats a pretty common problem.

You really should rethink whether you actually need the
config you want tho, you usually wouldnt be able to pick
the different config in a proper double blind trial without
being allowed to use a benchmark or diagnostic.

Do they commonly make longer ribbon cables,
longer between the master and slave connections?

They do exist, but they arent all that common.

Is this something you can pick up
anywhere, like CompUSA, etc?

Nope, not anywhere.

 

[Rod Speed]

Rod Speed (e-mail address removed) wrote

Are you referring to, for example, transferring data
from master to slave as opposed to master/master?

Yep.

 

[Walt]

I seem to always end up with this problem too,
whenever I build a tower.

What I have done, is to buy a 24" cable, and
carefully relocate the "slave" (gray) connector
in the middle. These connectors are compression
fit. One can gently pry the connector loose, and
then re-attach it elsewhere along the ribbon cable.

While the 24" length is more than what the ATA
spec allows, I don't believe there is a spec on
where exactly in the middle, the "slave" (gray)
connector must be. In other words, it doesn't need
to be at, say, the 80% point (which seems to be where
most manufacturers put it). It could just as well
be at the 50% point or the 20% point.

 

[Folkert Rienstra]

Are you referring to, for example, transferring data from master to
slave as opposed to master/master?

Yes, he is, but he can't be. He's off topic.

 

[Arno Wagner]

I want to reconfigure my Master/Slave devices but the 40/80 ribbon cable
connections wont span from the 3.5" bays to the 5.5" bays as I need them to
do what I want. Do they commonly make longer ribbon cables, longer between
the master and slave connections? Is this something you can pick up
anywhere, like CompUSA, etc?

Getting an additional 5-10 centimeters is o.k. and you can buy
these in many places. You can also get "rounded" cables
up to 90 cm in length. But getting more length changes the
cables parameters enough that you might get serious trouble.
The same gose for moving one drive connector closer to
the controller connector. There is also a minimal distance
for that.

I actually found 90 cm rounded cable unusable, but
as single-drive cables, cut down to 60 cm, they work
fine in my configuration.

Regards,
Arno

 

[Folkert Rienstra]

Getting an additional 5-10 centimeters is o.k. and you can buy
these in many places. You can also get "rounded" cables
up to 90 cm in length. But getting more length changes the
cables parameters enough that you might get serious trouble.
The same gose for moving one drive connector closer to
the controller connector. There is also a minimal distance
for that.

I actually found 90 cm rounded cable unusable,

but as single-drive cables, cut down to 60 cm, they work
fine in my configuration.

Which is within the 27 inches of the
"ATA/ATAPI 80-Conductor Cable Length Extension" proposal.

 

[BP]

It's fascinating that this hasn't been addressed by the industry. I can't be
the only anal-retentive trying to do this! I've got an old PII machine with
2 - 3.5" HDDs, one 1997 ATA33, one 2002 ATA133. In the 5.5" bays I've got a
CD burner, and a zip drive. I can't burn at 8x due to buffer underruns, so I
got to thinking that if I could configure the CD as the slave on the
opposite channel as the faster HDD as master I might get that 8X to kick.
(The old drive is the boot drive). I guess the only solution would be to get
a mounting kit for the HDD so I could mount it in the 5.5" bay. Too much of
a PIA to be worth playing with for an experiment. If no one else ever needed
longer cables then one would have to assume that there is no observable
benefit to device configuration?

Thanks anyway, all. Saved me a worthless trip to the store!

: I seem to always end up with this problem too,
: whenever I build a tower.
:
: What I have done, is to buy a 24" cable, and
: carefully relocate the "slave" (gray) connector
: in the middle. These connectors are compression
: fit. One can gently pry the connector loose, and
: then re-attach it elsewhere along the ribbon cable.
:
: While the 24" length is more than what the ATA
: spec allows, I don't believe there is a spec on
: where exactly in the middle, the "slave" (gray)
: connector must be. In other words, it doesn't need
: to be at, say, the 80% point (which seems to be where
: most manufacturers put it). It could just as well
: be at the 50% point or the 20% point.
:
: Rod Speed wrote:
: >
: > Yep, thats a pretty common problem.
: >

 

[Tom J]

It's fascinating that this hasn't been addressed by the industry. I can't be
the only anal-retentive trying to do this! I've got an old PII machine with
2 - 3.5" HDDs, one 1997 ATA33, one 2002 ATA133. In the 5.5" bays I've got a
CD burner, and a zip drive. I can't burn at 8x due to buffer underruns, so I
got to thinking that if I could configure the CD as the slave on the
opposite channel as the faster HDD as master I might get that 8X to kick.
(The old drive is the boot drive). I guess the only solution would be to get
a mounting kit for the HDD so I could mount it in the 5.5" bay. Too much of
a PIA to be worth playing with for an experiment. If no one else ever needed
longer cables then one would have to assume that there is no observable
benefit to device configuration?

Thanks anyway, all. Saved me a worthless trip to the store!

There is a local commercial computer assembler near me that had no problem
making me up a cable that would span from the CD/RW to the secondary hard
drive. He had the loose connectors and the cable and cut to the length I
needed, and then used the clamping device to attach the connectors. 5 minutes
and $5 and I was out of there!

Tom J