Removing And Adding Drives; Identifying Signal Cable Connectors - IBM NetVista A20 User Manual

Removing and adding drives

Your computer has four drive bays to accommodate various types of drives.
See the section "Looking inside the system unit for desktop model" on page 5-9 and
"Looking inside the system unit for microtower model" on page 5-11 for the location
and description of the drive bays.

Identifying signal cable connectors

When you install a drive of any type, you must attach the signal cable (also called
the data cable) from the drive to a connector on the system board. The following
table identifies each connector on the system and the type of drive that uses the
connection. Note that the first two connectors are for IDE/ATA ATAPI drives (such
as hard disk drives and CD-ROM drives), while the third connector is for diskette
interface drives (such as diskette drives or tape drives).
The following illustration identifies the signal cable connectors on your system
board:
System board connector
Primary IDE
Secondary IDE
FDD
When attaching a drive signal cable to any of these connectors, take note of the pin
1 indicator (usually marked by coloured stripes or dots) on the edge of the cable to
ensure it aligns with pin 1 on the connector.
In your computer, the IDE and diskette connectors on the system board and cables
have guides that allow the cable to be inserted one way only.
Guidelines for connecting IDE/ATA signal cables
Your system board has two connectors for attaching IDE/ATA signal cables. You
can install two IDE/ATA drives to each of these connectors, if you have the proper
cables. When two drives are attached to one connector, one drive must be the
master device, and the other the slave device. Jumper settings on the drives
determine which drive is the master and which is the slave.
Interface type Type of drive using the connector
IDE/ATA ATAPI Preferred location for the hard disk drives.
IDE/ATA ATAPI Preferred location for a CD-ROM drive.
Standard diskette Diskette and tape drives
Adding and removing adapter cards and drives 6-7