Installing and Replacing Desktop Board Components
43
Connecting a PATA (IDE) Cable
An IDE cable can be used to connect two IDE drives to the Desktop Board. The cable
supports the ATA-66/100 transfer protocol. Figure 20 shows the correct installation of
the cable.
NOTES
ATA-66/100 compatible cables are backward compatible with drives using slower
transfer protocols. If an ATA-66/100 disk drive and a disk drive using any other
transfer protocol are attached to the same cable, the maximum transfer rate between
the drives may be reduced to that of the slowest drive.
Do not connect an ATA device as a slave on the same IDE cable as an ATAPI master
device. For example, do not connect an ATA hard drive as a slave to an ATAPI
CD-ROM drive.
For correct function of the cable:
1.
Observe the precautions in "Before You Begin" on page 27.
2.
Attach the cable end with the single connector (blue) to the Intel Desktop Board
(Figure 20, A).
3.
Attach the cable end with the two closely spaced connectors (gray and black) to
the drives (Figure 20, B).
Figure 20. Connecting the IDE Cable
