OH NO. Cable not long enough!

[dgk]

This started in another thread but needs a new subject. The problem is how to attach two burners and one drive so that the burners are on different IDE channels. The problem is that the drive sits in the drive cage at the bottom of the case while the burners are at the top of the case.

So, hooking up one cable to stretch from the MB to the HD to the burner doesn't work unless the cable is flipped over and the motherboard connector is used for the burner, the middle connector is used for the drive, and the remaining connector plugs into the motherboard. That works physically but won't boot. Either I mucked something else up or the cable can't be flipped. Should that have worked?

Is there a more appropriate cable? It's a mid-tower case.

 

[Sneaky]

how far is it between the HDD and burner in the case? we can try and find you a cable that'll work

 

[Luftwaffle]

How many 5.25" bays do you have? You could mount the hard drive in the bay just under one of the burners with a little 5.25"-3.5" kit.

 

[dgk]

How many 5.25" bays do you have? You could mount the hard drive in the bay just under one of the burners with a little 5.25"-3.5" kit.

Yes this is one of the options but those slots don't get much cooling so adding a drive cooler would add noise. I'm not sure it would be necessary though, this drive is pretty much meant as a backup. There are already two SATA drives in the system. It is definitely a thought if I can't get a cable.

 

[dgk]

how far is it between the HDD and burner in the case? we can try and find you a cable that'll work

It's probably near 10" or so the way the crow flies. It might have to twist a bit to get around other stuff. I think... I think I'm an idiot. Just the other day I was walking around my new job and passed Cables N Chips or something like that. Well, there is a place to take a little stroll. I wonder if they're open for retail walk-ins. Let's see what they say.

 

[Snugglebear]

So, hooking up one cable to stretch from the MB to the HD to the burner doesn't work unless the cable is flipped over and the motherboard connector is used for the burner, the middle connector is used for the drive, and the remaining connector plugs into the motherboard. That works physically but won't boot. Either I mucked something else up or the cable can't be flipped. Should that have worked?

PATA cables aren't supposed to be flipped. I never looked in to what exactly causes it (probably how they're tied to ground), but whatever the case, the blue end always has to go in the controller. You can purchase extended PATA cables, some being 48" or longer, but don't count on ATA133/100 speeds with them. I've seen some people make longer ones out of CAT5 or other cables. Again, don't expect high speeds when going beyond ~24". The longer the cables get the more prone they are to crosstalk, external noise, and vanilla signal degradation - YMMV.

 

[Luftwaffle]

It's probably near 10" or so the way the crow flies. It might have to twist a bit to get around other stuff. I think... I think I'm an idiot. Just the other day I was walking around my new job and passed Cables N Chips or something like that. Well, there is a place to take a little stroll. I wonder if they're open for retail walk-ins. Let's see what they say.

Where's Cables 'n Chips?

I think Data Wheel on Northern and Main is still open, but as I recall, they're con-artists ($24 for an UATA cable). There's another computer store down the block toward the highway on Northern. PCAvailable used to be open near me in Bayside on 32nd Ave., but their site is down and I think they're out of business.

 

[dgk]

Where's Cables 'n Chips?

I think Data Wheel on Northern and Main is still open, but as I recall, they're con-artists ($24 for an UATA cable). There's another computer store down the block toward the highway on Northern. PCAvailable used to be open near me in Bayside on 32nd Ave., but their site is down and I think they're out of business.

Just got back from Cables N Chips (it's on Fulton Street). They wanted to sell me a 36" cable but I thought that was too long and Snugglebear confirms. They didn't have any 24", which might have done it depending on the positioning. I can't believe that I'm the first guy to have this problem.

Data Wheel. I've been there. It's been at that spot a long time and I used to get decent prices from them before PC Fairs and Newegg. I thought that the newer place down the block was the bigger ripoff. I can't even remember what it was that I wanted but I remember recoiling in shock. A HSF I think. There's a decent place one block east of the Taco Bell on Northern and I guess Utopia.

And I think on Saturday April 1st there's a PC Fair at the Queens College Gym. I live just about a block from QC so that's always a go. If I haven't solved this by then I'll find something if just the 5 1/4 adapter. I probably have some of those already if I can find them. But this is a weird case with those slide in adapter things. I prefer the old screw em in.

I can also use a cheap PATA card like RoadWarrior pointed out in the Two Cores Two Burners thread. I'm not sure what the impact of that on the system is though. I guess it doesn't use interrupts any more. I just hate installing stuff that causes more complications.

What do folks with those big full tower cases do?

 

[Snugglebear]

I just use a 36" cable for the optical drives and regular 18" cables for the hard drives in one of my servers (Inwin Q500). Having drives on the same channel isn't nearly as bad as most think. There's a server down in this company's basement - an old Compaq washing machine - that has a 48" cable to support its optical drives. They work fine, but admittedly aren't fast. What can I say, the world is full of trade-offs.

 

[Mr.Guvernment]

any good computer store can make you a custom cable with the connectors where u want.

 

[dgk]

Sure, but that costs money. And ever since the case manufacturers started putting those drive cages down at the bottom and the opticals at the top this has been a problem. A regular cable with more room between the drive connectors and less between the first drive and the MB is all that is needed. I CAN'T be the first one to come up with this. I think I'm going to open a store that sells just one kind of cable. I'll make a killing. WAIT! I can get a franchise from Monster and sell them for $80!

 

[Luftwaffle]

Just got back from Cables N Chips (it's on Fulton Street). They wanted to sell me a 36" cable but I thought that was too long and Snugglebear confirms. They didn't have any 24", which might have done it depending on the positioning. I can't believe that I'm the first guy to have this problem.

Data Wheel. I've been there. It's been at that spot a long time and I used to get decent prices from them before PC Fairs and Newegg. I thought that the newer place down the block was the bigger ripoff. I can't even remember what it was that I wanted but I remember recoiling in shock. A HSF I think. There's a decent place one block east of the Taco Bell on Northern and I guess Utopia.

And I think on Saturday April 1st there's a PC Fair at the Queens College Gym. I live just about a block from QC so that's always a go. If I haven't solved this by then I'll find something if just the 5 1/4 adapter. I probably have some of those already if I can find them. But this is a weird case with those slide in adapter things. I prefer the old screw em in.

I can also use a cheap PATA card like RoadWarrior pointed out in the Two Cores Two Burners thread. I'm not sure what the impact of that on the system is though. I guess it doesn't use interrupts any more. I just hate installing stuff that causes more complications.

What do folks with those big full tower cases do?

Oh word, I work near there. Might have to swing by some day.

I've never been to the place near Taco Bell. I've been to that Taco Bell many times though.

For my full tower, I use SATA drives.

 

[dgk]

I ate at the Taco Bell two days ago and stopped by that shop afterwards. He is a very helpful guy and his prices aren't bad.

I operated on the computer last night and moved the drive to a 5 1/4 slot. So now there are two burners and one drive leaving one open slot for something else. I'm not worried about the cooling since that drive is just for backups anyway and it sits out in the open. It will be fine.

The two SATA drives are in the drive cage where they should be.

 

[mortimer]

SVC has a good selection and good prices.

 

[dgk]

SVC has a good selection and good prices.

I'm very grateful. However you've ruined my dream of opening a Monster cable franchise. Those are perfect cables. Note that the round ones have both drives starting from the base rather than going first to one drive and then to the second. That's exactly what is needed.