Dual DVD/CD RW drives

  • Thread starter Thread starter remichal
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remichal

No doubt this question is old and has been asked too many times.
Since this is something I don't do on a daily basis I need some
help.

I have a Dell Dimension 5150 with a Philips DVD/CD RW drive which has
been a real dog. I just bought a new HP dvd840i and want to install
it as the primary unit but leave the Philips drive in the computer as
a secondary in case I want to copy a CD.

Installing the unit and connecting the cables is a no brainer but the
HP installation instructions are poor at the best when they mention
setting the drive jumper but don't explain what each setting (Cable
select/Slave/Master) is for and which to use under different
circumstances.

Do I set the HP to Master and the Philips to Slave or is that not the
way to go? I do well on software issues but hardware issues like
device controllers, etc. eludes me so if anyone cares to respond I
would ask for simple, plain English, terms and not computer lingo.

Thanks
 
remichal said:
No doubt this question is old and has been asked too many times.
Since this is something I don't do on a daily basis I need some
help.

I have a Dell Dimension 5150 with a Philips DVD/CD RW drive which has
been a real dog. I just bought a new HP dvd840i and want to install
it as the primary unit but leave the Philips drive in the computer as
a secondary in case I want to copy a CD.

Installing the unit and connecting the cables is a no brainer but the
HP installation instructions are poor at the best when they mention
setting the drive jumper but don't explain what each setting (Cable
select/Slave/Master) is for and which to use under different
circumstances.

Do I set the HP to Master and the Philips to Slave or is that not the
way to go? I do well on software issues but hardware issues like
device controllers, etc. eludes me so if anyone cares to respond I
would ask for simple, plain English, terms and not computer lingo.

Thanks
Click to expand...

Google is your friend.

Bob
 
remichal said:
No doubt this question is old and has been asked too many times.
Since this is something I don't do on a daily basis I need some
help.

I have a Dell Dimension 5150 with a Philips DVD/CD RW drive which has
been a real dog. I just bought a new HP dvd840i and want to install
it as the primary unit but leave the Philips drive in the computer as
a secondary in case I want to copy a CD.

Installing the unit and connecting the cables is a no brainer but the
HP installation instructions are poor at the best when they mention
setting the drive jumper but don't explain what each setting (Cable
select/Slave/Master) is for and which to use under different
circumstances.

Do I set the HP to Master and the Philips to Slave or is that not the
way to go? I do well on software issues but hardware issues like
device controllers, etc. eludes me so if anyone cares to respond I
would ask for simple, plain English, terms and not computer lingo.

Thanks
Click to expand...

One drive on an ide cable must be master, and the other drive on the SAME
ide cable must be slave. It usually doesn't matter which drive is which, as
long as one is master and one is slave.

Basically, the master will control the slave, and the master acts as a
go-between to pass information back and forth from the slave to the
mainboard ide controller.

You can't have two masters on the same cable, and you can't have two slaves
on the same cable. Cable select is a left-over setting from older
technology, and isn't used much anymore. -Dave
 
One drive on an ide cable must be master, and the other drive on the SAME
ide cable must be slave. It usually doesn't matter which drive is which, as
long as one is master and one is slave.

Basically, the master will control the slave, and the master acts as a
go-between to pass information back and forth from the slave to the
mainboard ide controller.

You can't have two masters on the same cable, and you can't have two slaves
on the same cable. Cable select is a left-over setting from older
technology, and isn't used much anymore. -Dave
Click to expand...

Actually cable select is quite popular on some machines. Most ultra
ata cables are cable select cables. To use cable select set both
drives to it; the drive on the end will be master and the one in the
middle will be slave.
 
No doubt this question is old and has been asked too many times.
Since this is something I don't do on a daily basis I need some
help.

I have a Dell Dimension 5150 with a Philips DVD/CD RW drive which has
been a real dog. I just bought a new HP dvd840i and want to install
it as the primary unit but leave the Philips drive in the computer as
a secondary in case I want to copy a CD.

Installing the unit and connecting the cables is a no brainer but the
HP installation instructions are poor at the best when they mention
setting the drive jumper but don't explain what each setting (Cable
select/Slave/Master) is for and which to use under different
circumstances.

Do I set the HP to Master and the Philips to Slave or is that not the
way to go? I do well on software issues but hardware issues like
device controllers, etc. eludes me so if anyone cares to respond I
would ask for simple, plain English, terms and not computer lingo.

Thanks
Click to expand...

On an IDE channel (or if you prefer, an IDE cable that's connected to
it), if you want two drives, you have to have one set as master and
the other as slave. You can do this manually if you wish. Which
drive is which doesn't really matter so long as you choose one to be
master and the other slave. As a matter of tradition, the master is
put at the end.

With Cable Select, you can set BOTH drives' jumpers to Cable Select
(CS), and you have to use a Cable Select cable (Pretty much any new
IDE cable is going to be a CS cable). If that Philips drive as
installed by DELL, it's likely to be set as CS. Most larger OEMs use
it because it saves them the trouble of messing with jumpers, they can
just set all the drives in their inventory to CS and pop in a drive
when a customer needs it.

(That's about all you need to know to install the drive and have it
work. Read on if you want to know how cable select actually works)

The way a CS cable works is that the CS pin (pin#28) isn't connected
(ie. the wire's cut) to ground on the branch intended for the slave
drive. If the drive sees that it's pin#28 is connected, it sets
itself up as Master at bootup, and Slave if it sees no connection.
Usually, the cables are wired up in a Y so that the connection break
is placed at the middle branch (and hidden from the user for cosmetic
reasons) to give you the traditional arrangement (master at the end,
slave in the middle).
 
After reading MCheu's comment I did some checking and found the
Phillips
drive in my Dell is set for Cable Select. Dell says to set the second
drive the
same way and Windows will "find it". From that point I
merely select which
drive I want to use from Roxio's drop down menu. Couldn't be
simpler.

Thanks to all.
 
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