E-7
WHEN USING A PRIMARY IDE CONTROLLER
Most PCs provide one IDE cable to support two devices (one for hard disk, the other for a
second hard disk or a CD-ROM drive). This IDE cable originates either on the motherboard
or on a controller card. This controller is termed the primary IDE controller, and the hard
disk attached that contains the operating system for boot-up is set up as the Primary
Master. Your CD-ROM drive should be set to the Slave mode.
Hard Disk Controller Card
(This card may be a connector on the Motherboard)
Primary IDE Channel
Primary Slave
(Hard Disk or
CD-ROM Drive)
Primary Master
(Hard Disk for
Boot-up)
Card Slot
Motherboard
Figure 4. Primary Controller system Configuration
Note:
Many older 1X and 2X CD-ROM drives used a 40 pin controller card that were not
IDE compatible. These were proprietary interface cards for use with a particular
model CD-ROM Drive. Many older Sony, Panasonic, and Mitsumi drives used 40
pin proprietary interface cards. If you are upgrading from an older CD-ROM drive,
your new CD-ROM will not work on a proprietary interface card. You will need to
buy a secondary IDE controller card.
CRD-8360 eng 9/20/88 2:23 PM Page 7
