Hi Paul,
(Are you Frodo?)
Your post was really helpful. Does an 80-wire cable still have a
40-pin connector, just like a 40-wire cable does? The IDE cable I
currently have was installed in 2002.
I found an AOpen manual online; it's generic for its DVD Rewrite
drives. It said that having the DVD set as Master is "recommended"
and would be "best" -- but didn't tell why. Currently I have it set
as secondary. The Manual showed configurations for sharing DVD & HD
on the same IDE cable. It did not show any DVD + CD on the same
shared IDE cable. Will the Mitsumi 4x from 1999, which is now set as
Master, is not going to limit the new AOpen DVD drive's capabilities?
I've seen some IDE cables online that are not flat ribbon cables; they
are round, so easier for me to fiddle with, plus they leave more air
circulation space inside the tower. Do you think they are worthwhile?
If I get an 80-wire cable that supports cable select, then I don't
have to worry about Master/Slave ever again, right?
On Sat, 04 Aug 2007 22:22:23 -0400, Paul <
[email protected]
Lady Dungeness
Crabby, but Great Legs!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
|
[email protected] wrote:
|> Hi Frodo,
|>
|> I hope you can continue to help me. The Zip drive is history. I've
|> screwed the new DVD drive into the bay. I set the jumpers to SLAVE.
|> The old Mitsumi 4x CD drive is still in the original bay where it was
|> installed in 2002.
|>
|> The installation guide leaves something to be desired.
|>
|> You said I'd need a new IDE cable -- this DVD drive didn't come with
|> one, yet it was sold as Retail. The Accessories checklist did not
|> mention an IDE cable. I'm confused about 40-conductor and
|> 80-conductor cables. What should I do?
|>
|> I hooked the sound cable to the DVD writer. There are little copper
|> strips on the plastic ends. I plugged it in so the little plastic
|> strips face DOWN. Is that right? I haven't plugged it in to the
|> computer yet -- just into the DVD writer.
|>
|> For requirements, the DVD box says: Pentium III 800 or faster, but
|> the Installation Guide says Pentium III 450 or faster. My processor
|> is Intel Pentium 4, 1.6GHz. I think that means I've met the minimum
|> requirements either way. Is that right?
|>
|> The Install Guide says it comes with software. The only software I
|> got was Nero 7 OEM, which is not important to me. The Guide refers to
|> a CD with manuals on it, but I don't have that CD; so I cannot check
|> for info about the IDE cables (40 vs. 80) or about the sound-cable
|> hookups.
|>
|> The DVD drive is AOpen DVD Rewriter Model DSW1812P-470.
|>
|> Can you help me with the cables?
|> Do I need any special software to get the DVD drive to work? I'm
|> using Windows Home SP2 with all updates.
|>
|> Thanks!
|>
|>
|> Lady Dungeness
|> Crabby, but Great Legs!
|> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
|>
|
|The 80 wire cable supports the higher UDMA rates. What the 80 wire cable
|does, is includes 40 ground signals, and the ground signals are there to
|reduce crosstalk and control the transmission line impedance. You get
|better signal quality, and potentially a lower error rate, with the
|80 wire cable. The 80 wire cable also typically support cable select,
|which the 40 wire cable may not do.
|
|To test the drive and make sure it is at least partially functional, you
|can still use the 40 wire cable for now. The driver can detect what kind
|of cable is being used, so the supported transfer rate will be determined
|accordingly. (The ATAPI standard says it can be detected most of the time,
|but in fact there is no guarantee that the driver can figure out the cable
|type.)
|
|
http://www.pcguide.com/ref/hdd/if/ide/confCable80-c.html
|
|I wouldn't bother with the sound cable. If you place an audio CD
|in the drive, the computer can use DAE (digital audio extraction)
|to pull the CD audio across the ribbon cable. The digital samples
|go to your sound chip and from there, to your speakers. The analog
|cable, depending on the qualities of the sound chip input, can
|pick up noise, if the analog input is not perfectly differential
|(good common mode rejection). So for that reason, the sound
|cable may be a waste of time. I'd try it without the sound cable
|first, and only worry about it, if the sound is so bad you want to
|try something else. None of my optical drives have sound hooked
|up, and I'm careful to unplug the CDROM sound cable entirely,
|so it cannot pick up electrical noise like an antenna.
|
|Some optical drives have a digital output, which I've read is
|SPDIF, but it was also suggested that the levels on that interface
|are not standard. I don't know where I'd plug that, in any of the
|computers I own, because they don't have a working SPDIF_in.
|
|Nero will help if you want to do some burning. Nero may install
|an ASPI layer. But if you just wanted to use the drive for
|reading installer disks, the driver in your system already might
|be good enough for that.
|
|
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aspi
|
http://aspi.radified.com/
|
| Paul
|
|> On Sat, 04 Aug 2007 15:58:31 -0000, (e-mail address removed) wrote:
|>
|> |
[email protected] wrote:
|> |> Good point. It's retail, so I presume it has a new cable. But I want
|> |> to keep the old 4x drive, too. How do I hook the new one up on a
|> |> separate 80-conductor IDE cable?
|> |
|> |you don't, just replace the old ribbon cable w/ the new one, to both
|> |drives. Keep the old drive on the same connector as before, either the
|> |very end one or the one a few inches in from the end; changing it could
|> |mess up your drive letters.
