HD configurations

[Gizmo]

After reading several posts on HD jumpering, what cables to put them on and everything, once again, like I always do, I started to wonder about something. I know a lot of people here say that jumpering a HD to Cable Select is always best, but is this only when the HD is actually connected up to a connector labeled whatever you want the HD to be seen as? I figured this because if the HD is already connected up to the desired labeled connector on the cable, it doesn't need to be jumpered to Primary Master or Primary Slave because it's already on a Primary Master or Primary Slave labeled connector. Or can you just set it to Primary Master or Primary Slave in the BIOS while still having the HD jumpered to Cable Select whether the HD is connected up to a non-labeled connector or not?

TIA...

[Cricket]

Originally Posted by DBG After reading several posts on HD jumpering, what cables to put them on and everything, once again, like I always do, I started to wonder about something. I know a lot of people here say that jumpering a HD to Cable Select is always best, but is this only when the HD is actually connected up to a connector labeled whatever you want the HD to be seen as? I figured this because if the HD is already connected up to the desired labeled connector on the cable, it doesn't need to be jumpered to Primary Master or Primary Slave because it's already on a Primary Master or Primary Slave labeled connector.

The 80 wire IDE cable is the cable select type...the cable connector determines the drive priority (master or slave). You can use the master or slave jumper position if the drive is connected to the proper connector, but to make things simple, just use the CS jumper setting.

Originally Posted by DBG Or can you just set it to Primary Master or Primary Slave in the BIOS while still having the HD jumpered to Cable Select whether the HD is connected up to a non-labeled connector or not?

You don't choose drive priority from the BIOS. As long as you're using a 80 wire IDE cable, you use the CS jumper setting. Usually, it's the 40 wire cable select IDE cables that have the marked connectors (master, slave, motherboard)...you usually find these in older name brand computers.

Cricket

[EzyStvy]

Kind of got lost reading your question.

How many drives are you asking about?

If the is only one drive you can do a few diferent combos.

If there are two drives and ONLY one will be the boot drive you can:

1. Set both to CS and place the boot drive on the end of the ribbon
2. Set one to master and the other to slave.

The results will be the same. You can't do any changes in the bios that I know of. The bios just detects what you've hooked up.

[Gizmo]

You can use the master or slave jumper position if the drive is connected to the proper connector

Ok, so that means that if the drive isn't connected up to a labeled connector on the 80 wire IDE ribbon cable, you have to jumper it to either Primary Master or Primary Slave and not Cable Select. Correct?

[Cricket]

Originally Posted by DBG Ok, so that means that if the drive isn't connected up to a labeled connector on the 80 wire IDE ribbon cable, you have to jumper it to either Primary Master or Primary Slave and not Cable Select. Correct?

Yes, but only if it's a 40 wire IDE cable and not a 80 wire.

Cricket

[Gizmo]

Gotcha Thanks guys!

EDIT: Just re-read your last post Cricket. You said that you can only jumper the drive to Primary Master or Primary Slave if it's not connected up to a marked connector on a 40 wire cable. What happens if you can't connect the drive to a labeled connector on an 80 wire cable? You'd have to jumper it to Primary Master or Primary Slave even though it's not a 40 wire cable, right?

Lol, sorry. I'm getting myself conused.

[Cricket]

Originally Posted by DBG EDIT: Just re-read your last post Cricket. You said that you can only jumper the drive to Primary Master or Primary Slave if it's not connected up to a marked connector on a 40 wire cable. What happens if you can't connect the drive to a labeled connector on an 80 wire cable? You'd have to jumper it to Primary Master or Primary Slave even though it's not a 40 wire cable, right?

No, you have to use the CS jumper setting when using a 80 wire IDE cable. If you set the drive jumper to master but connect the drive to the slave connector (the grey connector), the computer may not see the drive or it could lock up while booting up.

To keep things simple, just remember: For 80 wire IDE cables, use the CS jumper setting. For 40 wire IDE cables, use the master/slave jumper settings (unless you know for sure it's a cable select 40 wire IDE cable).

Cricket

[Colonel Sanders]

80-wire cables is where cable-select originally started. Some of the wires in the cable are not connected which is what determines which drive will be master or slave. So, you can use cable-select on the drive, or you can jumper the drive on the master connector for master (same with slave drive and slave jumper). So far, I haven't seen an 80 wire cable without the cable select feature.

40 wire cables don't have the cable select feature, but I have always heard to put the master drive on one end, slave in the middle, and MB on the other end. I have never tried jumpering a drive for cable select with a 40-wire cable, but I imagine there would be "difficulties" as 40-wire cables (unless from a pre-built as mentioned above) don't have the cable select feature.

L J

[Multiple_Personas120]

And here's some more: I had a problem trying to slave another hard drive to an 80-wire hd...I hadn't known that both hard drives needed to be on Cable Select. Now I do.

just a bit of frustrated experience,
Multiple Persona #56

[Gizmo]

Bingo! Crystal clear now. Thanks very much for that guys!