front panel IDE connector

[schwags]

ok, this is related to my last post about a good case for cable management, but I thought it was different enough to make a separate thread.

has anyone ever used one of these front IDE adapters? http://www.pctoys.com/840556052173.htmlIt looks like one of the connectors on an internal ide cable connect to the inside, but then another cable connects to the outside. I have two concern with this.

Would I still be able to use both connectors on the external cable? I mean, basically you would have only one of the cable connectors brought to the outside. Would that lead to problems with a master/slave arrangement?

If I understand how cable select works, pin 28 is the one that matters. if the drive sees pin 28 as a ground, then it will become master. If it sees pin 28 as floating (or nothing) then it will become slave. That means that pin 28 on the master (end) connector is a ground. The middle connector must just not make contact with pin 28. So...if you plugged the MASTER connector into the adapter, then the adapter would be seeing ground on pin 28, the same as the IDE header on the MB. That way, a cable plugged into the adapter should behave as if it was plugged into the header?? You should be able to use the external cable as if it were normal...does this make sense?? Am I crazy??

The second thing that I wonder about is the maximum allowed length of an IDE cable. Usually they are 18", but is it limited in length like SCSI?? I have seen a 36" cable for sale on Ebay, but is that out of spec? Does anyone know?

 

[14049752]

36" is out of spec. The official spec is 5 inches minimum between each connector, 10 inches max between the motherboard and middle connector and 8 inches max between the middle and end connector.

As for that front panel and cable select and everything;
You could use it and it'd probably work just fine if you put the internal part at the end of an 80-pin cable. The ground for cable select would pass on to act like the header on the motherboard for your external cable.
You might want to try to find a single device cable, as short as posssible to go between the motherboard and that panel, then use the shortest cables you can on the outside. If you're too far out of spec, you're going to get a lot of data noise and delayed signal reflection.

 

[TimeCode]

Be careful of hot-plugging the drive. Why not just get a USB to IDE-SATA-2.5" adapter? http://www.amazon.com/Coolmax-15438-CD-350-COMBO-Multifunctional-Converter/dp/B000HZEX1K

 

[schwags]

I don't plan on hot plugging an IDE drive, I just want easy access to it without crawling around on the floor. I have considered the adapter option, but I have a question that maybe people on here can answer.

Can you really get low level access to a HDD through one of those USB adapters? Something tells me that using an adapter instead of plugging it into the IDE header won't work as well when performing data recovery and other operations that require low level drive access. I just figure that the extra layer of translation from an adapter might make it more difficult to really control the drive. Does this make sense? Is there anyone here who knows enough about how all this works to chime in?

 

[NWPhotog]

Be careful of hot-plugging the drive. Why not just get a USB to IDE-SATA-2.5" adapter? http://www.amazon.com/Coolmax-15438-CD-350-COMBO-Multifunctional-Converter/dp/B000HZEX1K

IDE to USB transfer speed is much slower. If you are doing spyware scans plugging it in via ide is worth the trouble.

 

[arrow_runner]

Is photorec considered low-level? If so, it works over usb adapters.

I can run a chkdsk over USB too, isn't that kind of the same thing?

 

[schwags]

I don't doubt that the programs work, but has anyone ever compared the performance / accuracy between using an adapter and the raw header? I would be interested in seeing if there was anything you couldn't do with an adapter.

 

[WareDat]

Just pick up a 5.25 Removable IDE Hard Drive Rack they are about $25 for a rack and tray, and about $13 for extra trays. They take up one 5.25 bay and you will never need to open your case to plug in a drive, just remove the tray cover, plug it in, replace the cover and slide it into the rack.

I have one IDE and one SATA removable rack in my rig but personally like usb adapter better becouse it is hot plugable, IDE isn't.