Hardware Reference
In-Depth Information
Because PATA and SATA drives use different cables, be sure you have the proper cable
for both your drive and controller/host adapter. For example, to run PATA 66MBps and
faster modes (through 133MBps), you need an 80-conductor cable. This cable is also re-
commended even if you are running 33MBps and slower modes. To determine whether
your cable has 40 or 80 conductors, simply count the ridges on the ribbon cable—each
ridge contains aconductor (wire). Another indication is that the 80-conductor cable typic-
ally has the motherboard connector end color-coded blue, and the master and slave drive
connectors color-coded black and gray, respectively. SATA 6Gbps drives require cables
made for 6Gbps performance, and these cables are marked accordingly.
If you need additional drive-mounting hardware not included with either your case or
the drive, several companies specialize in drive-mounting brackets, cables, and other
hardware accessories, including Ci Design (
www.cidesign.com
), Micro Accessories
(
www.micro-a.com
)
, Jameco (
www.jameco.com
)
, and NewEgg (
www.newegg.com
)
. If
you intend to install a 3 1/2-inch hard drive in a 5 1/4-inch drive bay, or a 2 1/2-inch hard
disk in a 3 1/2-inch drive bay, you need yet another type of mounting bracket. Many 3
1/2-inch harddrives come with these brackets, oronemight besupplied with yourcase or
chassis.
Note
You should also note the length of the drive cable when you plan to add a hard disk drive.
It can be annoying to assemble everything you think you'll need to install a drive and then
find that the drive cable is not long enough to reach the new drive location. You can either
try to reposition the drive to a location closer to the interface connector on the host adapter
or motherboard or just get a longer cable. PATA ribbon cables are technically limited to 18
inches according to the standard; however, in most cases you can get away with cables of up
to 27 inches as long as they are an 80-conductor ribbon type. Cable lengths longer than that,
as well as “rounded” types, are generally not recommended. This is most important if your
drive is going to use the fastest 133MBps mode. Using a cable that is too long causes timing
errors and signal degradation, possibly corrupting the data on your drive.
Caution
Many hard disk drives come with special short-length screws that may have the same size
thread as other screws you might use in your system, but these screws should not be inter-
changed.Ifyouusescrewsthataretoolong,theymightprotrudetoofarintothedrivecasing
and cause problems.
The step-by-step procedure for installing drives is as follows:
1.
If the drive is PATA, make sure the jumpers are properly set. (CS or Cable Select is
the proper setting in most cases.) If the drive is SATA, usually no jumper configura-
