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ports two drives, a Master and a Slave. The drives connect to the
motherboard with an IDE ribbon cable. IDE cables have three connectors
on them, one that plugs into a drive connector on the board and the other
two that connect to IDE devices. The connector at the end of the cable is
for the Master drive. The connector in the middle of the cable is for the
Slave drive.
There are three types of IDE ribbon cable, supporting transfer modes up
through ATA-33, ATA-66 or ATA-100. You must use a cable that supports
the transfer mode of the fastest device connected to it. For example, if
both an ATA-66 mode and an ATA-100 mode device are connected to the
same cable, the cable must support ATA-100 mode to achieve maximum
performance.
To install an IDE drive, connect the drive to one of the drive connectors
on a suitable ribbon cable. Plug the board end of the cable into one of the
IDE connectors on the motherboard.
5.2.3 IDE Drive Positioning
Normally the system's primary hard disk drive should be in the Primary
Master position. If you will use only the supplied ribbon cable, connect a
CD-ROM drive to the Primary Slave position.
If you obtain an additional IDE ribbon cable, you can install a second
hard disk drive in the primary Slave position an install the CD-ROM as
the Secondary Master. This is a good idea if the CD-ROM drive uses a
slower data transfer mode than the hard disk drive. Follow any instruc-
tions that come with the drives to configure and install them. IDE devices
generally can be set to one of three operation modes:
1.
Master
2.
Slave
3.
Cable Select
Many drives come set to the Master setting. If you will use the drive in a
Slave position, you must reconfigure it as either Slave or use the Cable
Select setting to allow the drives position on the cable to define the mode.
5.2.4 Connecting a Floppy Disk Drive
This motherboard has one Floppy Drive connector for connecting one or
two floppy disk drives. Most computer systems use one 3.5-inch 1.44MB
floppy disk drive. The drive connector is for a standard floppy drive rib-
bon cable. To install a floppy disk drive, connect the drive to the end of
the cable, which is the Drive A: position. Plug the other end of the cable
into the floppy disk drive connector on the motherboard.
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Chapter 5
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