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IDE Cable

#1 Megaman1

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Posted 27 August 2009 - 09:51 AM

Hi,

If I have only one drive on a IDE cable, why do I have to have the drive on the end of the cable, why cant I have it in the middle of the cable?

Thanks.

#2 dpunisher

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Posted 27 August 2009 - 10:24 AM

You don't.

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#3 garmanma

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Posted 27 August 2009 - 03:19 PM

Set your jumper to Cable Select

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#4 Platypus

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Posted 27 August 2009 - 04:59 PM

Megaman1, on Aug 28 2009, 12:51 AM, said:

If I have only one drive on a IDE cable, why do I have to have the drive on the end of the cable, why cant I have it in the middle of the cable?

As dpunisher says, you don't have to use the end cable connector, but there is a reason why you shouldn't.

If a single drive is on the center connection, the remainder of the cable becomes what is described technically as an "unterminated stub". This can provoke data errors and affect the drive performance by causing frequent re-reads. So it's the correct procedure to use the end connection for a single drive, the data cable is then appropriately terminated.

This post has been edited by Platypus: 27 August 2009 - 05:00 PM

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