Cutting IDE cables

[Sonny]

I just finnished making a few rounded cables & was wondering if I could cut the short end off. I don't need very long cables & RAID0 works better if both HDDs have their own cables. Will there be problems with cutting?

[*JEREMY*]

I have done it a couple times and they still worked fine,just make sure you use a very sharp razor so that you dont get and wires making contact with each other.

[Optimus2575]

where did you get that plastic 'comb' to round the cables. i used black electrical tape. thanks:D

[Sonny]

I got it from my local shop, "Mall Hardware Store", when I was looking for something else. It the kind that you see on them home tv shopping junk.

I made 3 bad cuts & have the wire showing but not cut. Did I ruin it? I taped them up but something in my gut tells me that I would be better of buying new ones again:eh?:

[GravY]

80 pin wires are hard to do without showing some wire, watch out for crosstalk, I put electrical tape over the wires that were showing after removing the middle connector and the couple I exposed when cutting the wires to be safe..

[JFettig]

dont use a KINFE to cut them!

USE A SAFETY PIN!!! and just drag it up and down the cable between wires! it works great!

and i shortened my floppy cable by pulling the part that turns around and moving it down, well first i took the connector off. then i put the connector after i reversed that part and cut the rest off with a razer

and it works great

[GravY]

Good idea with the safty pin..

[JFettig]

i used a knife at first and totally screwed it up! i was so ****ed. because im one of them who has NO money!

[nohoy]

oh and definately do not just cut a little then pull them apart. i did that with mine and it totally ruined them. but i also started them with a knife and that didnt help all that much. the safety pin would have been a great idea and i actually keep a couple in my desk drawer just in case i need them.


i made a good one but i bought a real rounded one from a store and id have to say that i like it much better. smoother, easier to move, and just makes you feel good

[Twinkle]

The safty pin idea is so good I think I will finally round my ATA 66 cables, been too scared till now.

[Sonny]

After asking a few people I finally have a solid answer. Cutting IDE cables at the end making them shorter & using the middle connector is a BAD idea. The end is for HDD-0 & the middle one is HDD-1. You can but is it worth the lower performance? I don't think so. Thanks to John Hill for all his help:beer: You The Man:cool:

Now how about just taking the center connector off? There will be holes equal to stripped insulation so taping them up would be needed. But they might 'cause some data loss in the future & errors. How would you test them? I was thinking Sandra Drive Tests to see if there are any errors but that wasnt designed for it.

[GravY]

I was looking at a spare 80pin cable I have, and I could really just kinda roll\twist the cable into a tube shape and insert it into a sleeve.. I don't think this would cause any problems and would save cutting them, anyone care to comment on doing it that way?

[Sonny]

Originally posted by GravY
I was looking at a spare 80pin cable I have, and I could really just kinda roll\twist the cable into a tube shape and insert it into a sleeve.. I don't think this would cause any problems and would save cutting them, anyone care to comment on doing it that way? If your not looking for flexability that would be one of the best ideas:beer: My DVDROM & CDRW are on the top most of my case so them cables don't need to be flexable. Hopefully they reach since the twist & role method will shorten them considerably:beer:

[Sonny]

I just made one of my Rounded Cables into a single. Hopefully they work.

Center Connector;

[Sonny]

Easy enough to take off. The top part acts like a clip to sandwich the cable.

[Sonny]

When you take a close look on how the cable is "pinched" for the second connector to work as 1 Slave, 0 as Master, the teeth are designed to cut thru the insulation on both sides of a wire but not completely thru it.


Cable Killer;

[Sonny]

So the question really is;

Is it DEAD? With all them holes(look at pic closely) they gotta be DEAD.

I'm hoping they still work even with all the holes:eek:



DEAD Cable?

[Sonny]

Tape them up;

[Sonny]

I was thinking of using my Plextor for the test. I have a few DATA CDs, 700Mb & 700Mb+ overburns, that I could use to test the reading(Sandra Drive Test) & also burn another 700Mb on a RW Disc. Would this be enough of a test on read & write? I don't want to try them on my HDDs since I still have valuable DATA on them. Let me know what you guys think:beer:



Wrap 'em up;

[Niloc]

Looks good I just finsihed some last week

[diehrd]

Why not just move the hard drive 0 connector to the hard drive 1 connector.

[Sonny]

Originally posted by diehrd
Why not just move the hard drive 0 connector to the hard drive 1 connector. :eh?: Uhhhh..... I didnt think of that:o I'll give it a shot if the tape doesnt leave any crud. If only they sold singles in country:(

[natopotato]

hmm why guyz making such a bid deal outa this i have 2 comps one has an ide cable that has the last section cut off works fine.... the other i rounded juz by pulling them appart stran by stan the come appart so easy u dont need a pin. knife, or any thing juz pull them appart

also seems like alota caution being taken for some $1.50 cables... i think ill test for data los cuz my lil ghetto cables might not work so good after all


i think im too sleepy to be typing any thing good night:p

[JFettig]

Originally posted by natopotato
the other i rounded juz by pulling them appart stran by stan the come appart so easy u dont need a pin. knife, or any thing juz pull them appart



thats only with ata 33 cables....doesnt work on 66 and above...

[Wa11y]

SOME ADVICE TO THOSE WHO HAVE EXPOSED WIRES AFTER CUTTING!!!

I have found that clear nail polish is a life saver. Exposed wires on a homemade rounded cable? Coat them with some clear nail polish, and let it dry. Exposed some traces on a circuit board? Cover them with clear nail polish, and let it dry. Yes, it does work. No, it's not conductive after it dries. It insulates quite well.