What happens if you connect HDD master + CD Rom Slave on the same cable does that work?

PS You don't really want 2 Optical disk drives on the same ribbon connecter if you plan on using them at the same time.

Do both hard drives work together on the secondary ide port, the one where both dvd & cd drives work on ?

Warlord wrote on 2023-06-12, 05:44:

What happens if you connect HDD master + CD Rom Slave on the same cable does that work?

Good idea, I'll check. However, this is not feasible in the long run due to case I'm using; the HDDs and the optical drives are physically quite far apart.

Warlord wrote on 2023-06-12, 05:44:

PS You don't really want 2 Optical disk drives on the same ribbon connecter if you plan on using them at the same time.

Why is this?

weedeewee wrote on 2023-06-12, 05:52:

Do both hard drives work together on the secondary ide port, the one where both dvd & cd drives work on ?

I hadn't thought to check this either. I'll get back to you.

amigopi wrote on 2023-06-12, 05:58:

Why is this?

because data can only go one way at a time on a IDE ribbon cable. trying to read and write to 2 differnt discs or hdds on the same cable at the same time will impact performance. You would see this especially if lets say for example you have 2 cd drives on one cable. One is a burner and the other is for reads and youre trying to rip data from one and burn to another at the same time. It will be a lot slower than if they were on differnt IDE channels. The same goes for HDD drives. Having 2 hard drives on the same cable and if you try to copy the contents of one HDD onto the other HDD it will be a lot slower than if they were on seperate channels. So you shouldnt be putting 2 HDD on the same ribbon anyways if you trying to get the best performance.

Warlord wrote on 2023-06-12, 06:14:

because data can only go one way at a time on a IDE ribbon cable. trying to read and write to 2 differnt discs or hdds on the same cable at the same time will impact performance. You would see this especially if lets say for example you have 2 cd drives on one cable. One is a burner and the other is for reads and youre trying to rip data from one and burn to another at the same time. It will be a lot slower than if they were on differnt IDE channels. The same goes for HDD drives. Having 2 hard drives on the same cable and if you try to copy the contents of one HDD onto the other HDD it will be a lot slower than if they were on seperate channels. So you shouldnt be putting 2 HDD on the same ribbon anyways if you trying to get the best performance.

Cool, thanks!

Now for the really dumb question: can I extend an IDE cable with another IDE cable? 😁 It's the only way I can think of to make this "HDD master, optical slave" thing practically work with my case with the cables I have on hand.
--> duh, of course not, there are separate extension cables for that.

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weedeewee wrote on 2023-06-12, 05:52:

Do both hard drives work together on the secondary ide port, the one where both dvd & cd drives work on ?

The answer to this is, unfortunately, NO. The master HDD is detected as drive 3 by the BIOS, drive 4 is "None". I also tried with another IDE cable, the one that works with the optical drives.

Which hard drives are you using? make/model
Which cables are you using? 80 wire / 40 wire ?

As a test you could take out the drives and just hook them up hdd&dvd and hdd & cd, laying beside the case. As a test.

weedeewee wrote on 2023-06-12, 06:35:

Which cables are you using? 80 wire / 40 wire ?

I only have these 40 wire cables from who knows when to play with at the moment. (I have ordered some 80 wire cables.)

weedeewee wrote on 2023-06-12, 06:35:

Which hard drives are you using? make/model

The other one is a Maxtor 2B020H1 from 2001... and the other one is this OCZ SATA SSD I've been using with this chintzy Chinese adapter (see attachment) that I really feel like I should have mentioned earlier. Sorry!

weedeewee wrote on 2023-06-12, 06:35:

As a test you could take out the drives and just hook them up hdd&dvd and hdd & cd, laying beside the case. As a test.

Yeah, this is what I did... After some fiddling it seems that the Maxtor knows how to play nice with both of the optical drives, while either the OCZ or the adapter is a jealous type and doesn't want to share the cable with anyone. So for now I've got both hard disks and the DVD drive working, which is good enough for me; however, I cannot put them in the case with the cables I have. Crap. I guess I'll have to order either an extension cable or figure out some way to mount the Maxtor to one of the 5.25" slots.

So, mystery kind of solved, I suppose. Thanks for your time, guys!

Yep, it's likely the adapter that's causing you problems. Some work fine in dual drive setups, others fail. It's annoying.

enjoy & have fun !

amigopi wrote on 2023-06-12, 07:54:

The other one is a Maxtor 2B020H1 from 2001... and the other one is this OCZ SATA SSD I've been using with this chintzy Chinese adapter (see attachment) that I really feel like I should have mentioned earlier. Sorry!

sata-pata adapters are usually hard wired for master, they might not even support slave drive on same cable. IDE master/slave actually requires some logic in drive controllers https://www.os2museum.com/wp/the-dual-drive-ide-hell/ and wasnt standardized for a long time (something ridiculous like ~1994?)

rasz_pl wrote on 2023-06-12, 14:42:

sata-pata adapters are usually hard wired for master, they might not even support slave drive on same cable. IDE master/slave actually requires some logic in drive controllers https://www.os2museum.com/wp/the-dual-drive-ide-hell/ and wasnt standardized for a long time (something ridiculous like ~1994?)

This one does have the master/slave jumper, though. Not that it's any good for anything, apparently.

I actually wouldn't mind if anyone had suggestions re: these adapters. For example, I am considering buying the StarTech one, but as it is considerably more expensive at ~27 euros, I don't feel like just jumping in blindly.

amigopi wrote on 2023-06-12, 14:57:

rasz_pl wrote on 2023-06-12, 14:42:

sata-pata adapters are usually hard wired for master, they might not even support slave drive on same cable. IDE master/slave actually requires some logic in drive controllers https://www.os2museum.com/wp/the-dual-drive-ide-hell/ and wasnt standardized for a long time (something ridiculous like ~1994?)

This one does have the master/slave jumper, though. Not that it's any good for anything, apparently.

I actually wouldn't mind if anyone had suggestions re: these adapters. For example, I am considering buying the StarTech one, but as it is considerably more expensive at ~27 euros, I don't feel like just jumping in blindly.

I think i've seen it mentioned a few times on the forum in one way or another and seeing it has a marvel chip and seems to have all the jumpers. I'd say go for it.