ATA cable

  • Thread starter Thread starter Peter
  • Start date Start date
Peter said:
The cable has a blue and a black end, Which side goes on to the
motherboard?
Click to expand...

Doesn't actually matter - what colour is the connector on the motherboard?
Just co-ordinate them!
 
Doesn't actually matter - what colour is the connector on the motherboard?
Just co-ordinate them!
Click to expand...

It probably does matter!
Current ATA cables use 80 wires. And are color coded.

Black is the master, Blue motherboard, Grey is the slave.

If that does not match your physical installation, get the proper
cable (or be in for some troubles:-) !
 
Gerard Bok said:
It probably does matter!
Current ATA cables use 80 wires. And are color coded.

Black is the master, Blue motherboard, Grey is the slave.

If that does not match your physical installation, get the proper
cable (or be in for some troubles:-) !
Click to expand...

I just use the cable any way round, but set the jumpers on the back of the
drives to master and slave instead of cable select. You can't put the cable
in the wrong way up as there is a notch on the connector.
 
I just use the cable any way round, but set the jumpers on the back of the
drives to master and slave instead of cable select. You can't put the cable
in the wrong way up as there is a notch on the connector.
Click to expand...

Do whatever you like. On your own computer.
But please: do not post bad advice to others.
 
Gerard Bok said:
Do whatever you like. On your own computer.
But please: do not post bad advice to others.
Click to expand...

Or what? Which part of my known working solution was 'bad' exactly and why
is your more restrictive advice better?
 
Or what? Which part of my known working solution was 'bad' exactly and why
is your more restrictive advice better?
Click to expand...

The fact that something might work on your PC does not imply that
it will function correctly on any PC.
Following your advice may well result in data loss, so it is fair
to say the advice is 'bad'.

Most people who save files to a harddisk do that for the purpose
of being able to read it back (reliably) sometime later.
You may not care about the integrity of your data, someone else
probably will care.

Read http://www.t13.org/ to know all about ATA :-)
Or more specifically: http://www.t13.org/technical/d98122r0.pdf
 
Yes, it does matter in the case of the 80-conductor cables. The extra
conductors in the cable are there to act as shielding between the original
ATA 40 conductors. They must be grounded to work properly. If the wrong
end of the cable is plugged into the MB then the grounding will not
happen.
Click to expand...

But aren't the ground (pin #34) and CSEL signal (pin #28) the same on both
ends 8-)? The paragraph on PCguide explaining why the color coding is used
is more for those who don't know how the drives should be hooked up. If you
follow a couple simple rules -
A single drive will be set to master or CSEL (or single) and 'must' placed
at the end of the cable.
Two drives in CSEL mode will be assigned as 'master' on the end and 'slave'
in the middle.
--


"I don't cheat to survive. I cheat to LIVE!!"
- Alceryes
 
In fact if you look here...

http://pinouts.ru/data/AtaInternal_pinout.shtml

they show that the pinout is the same on both ends for 40 and 80 wire ATA
cables (they talk about the 80 wire cables below the diagram). So as long as
you make sure pin 1 on your cable mates with pin 1 on your device (that's
what the stub is for) there is no difference.
 
But aren't the ground (pin #34) and CSEL signal (pin #28) the same on both
ends 8-)?
Click to expand...

No, the host end has the CSEL line grounded. The master
device in a CSEL set master/slave configuration must be
connected on the opposite end, not the blue plugged end.

If you are not using CSEL to set master/slave designations,
you "could" flip the cable, but why? Unless there is some
kind of spacing issue of where the middle connector is, you
might as well just hook it up as intended.
 
kony said:
No, the host end has the CSEL line grounded. The master
device in a CSEL set master/slave configuration must be
connected on the opposite end, not the blue plugged end.

If you are not using CSEL to set master/slave designations,
you "could" flip the cable, but why? Unless there is some
kind of spacing issue of where the middle connector is, you
might as well just hook it up as intended.
Click to expand...


The spacing issue is imposed by the ATA specs in that
they specify where the controller connector should be and
where each of the device connectors should be - see p.29
of: http://t13.org/docs2004/d1532v2r4b-ATA-ATAPI-7.pdf .
In practice, though, modern circuitry seems very tolerant
of deviations from the cabling specs.

*TimDaniels*
 
No, the host end has the CSEL line grounded. The master
device in a CSEL set master/slave configuration must be
connected on the opposite end, not the blue plugged end.
Click to expand...

Hmmm...is there a way that the IDE channel 'corrects' it if the cable is
flipped?

Because of cable length, and the fact that the slave connector is usually
much closer to the end of the cable, I have used the cable in reverse on
dozens of occasions and never had a problem. 99% of the time I use the CS
setting as well and the device on the end of the chain always becomes master
with the one in the middle set as slave.
I'm not talking all newer equipment too...when I worked at Best Buy and
Gateway there were many 'dinosaurs' brought in to be upgraded (new HD, more
RAM) and I never had a problem flipping the cables around...

If you're right that is kind of odd that I've never had problems. Any
ideas??
--


"I don't cheat to survive. I cheat to LIVE!!"
- Alceryes
 
Alceryes said:
Hmmm...is there a way that the IDE channel 'corrects' it if the
cable is flipped?

Because of cable length, and the fact that the slave connector
is usually much closer to the end of the cable, I have used the
cable in reverse on dozens of occasions and never had a problem.
99% of the time I use the CS setting as well and the device on
the end of the chain always becomes master with the one in the
middle set as slave. I'm not talking all newer equipment too...
when I worked at Best Buy and Gateway there were many
'dinosaurs' brought in to be upgraded (new HD, more RAM)
and I never had a problem flipping the cables around...

If you're right that is kind of odd that I've never had problems.
Any ideas??
Click to expand...


Yeah, the circuitry is more tolerant of non-standard cabling
than the specs imply. Also, cirtuitry might be correcting for
an increased error rate that you're not aware of. It might
even be reducing the transfer rate to compensate. That
said, I use "round" cables in my PC, and I love 'em.

*TimDaniels*
 
Alceryes said:
Hmmm...is there a way that the IDE channel 'corrects' it if the cable is
flipped?

Because of cable length, and the fact that the slave connector is usually
much closer to the end of the cable, I have used the cable in reverse on
dozens of occasions and never had a problem. 99% of the time I use the CS
setting as well and the device on the end of the chain always becomes master
with the one in the middle set as slave.
Click to expand...

Pin #28, (CSEL), when grounded signals the drive to act as master. This
pin gets its ground normally from the MB, (blue), connector and is not
connected at the middle, (gray), connector, but is connected at the end,
(black), connector. Reversing these would still leave CS intact. There
is some question about pin #34, which may be handled differently at each
end. As you've found, most set-ups don't care! :-)
 
Timothy said:
Yeah, the circuitry is more tolerant of non-standard cabling
than the specs imply. Also, cirtuitry might be correcting for
an increased error rate that you're not aware of. It might
even be reducing the transfer rate to compensate. That
said, I use "round" cables in my PC, and I love 'em.
Click to expand...

See my reply to Alceryes. The only way increased error rate might be
incurred, is leaving a "stub" of a cable unconnected with only one drive
at the middle connector. This could pick up EMF which might interfere
with data transfer.

The main advantage of SATA is to get rid of all this nonsense! ;-)
The cables are much smaller than even round cables! Don't expect faster
performance until the drive "innards" catch up to the serial interface!
 
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