Shortening IDE cables.

[indyjones]

Hi all I am currently in the process of a major PC rebuild and one of my numerous tasks to do is to sort out the messy wiring. I have already shortened my floppy cable and rounded it (heat shrink), my question is can IDE cables be shortened by cutting them off at the slave connection ??? Will they then properly act as just a single IDE cable ??

Cheers

 

[Taurus]

in theory, yes. i've never heard of anyone doing this, though. good idea.

if you do it, it might be a good idea to cover the bare wire ends with electrical tape or something... to prevent interference (ide cables are prone to this) or shorting.

 

[Heeter]

I have done this to my server tower, Looks really sharp too!! 1 IDE to the HD (Primary) and 1 IDE to CD (Secondary), both hacked off at the master connection. Cut off all the extra power supply wiring too, removed the A drive all together as well. For an old tower and old power supply, it looks really clean inside.


Heeter

 

[Geffy]

I would say that as there are 40 lines to the master and 40 lines to the secondary, you would need to remove the Master plug part and re-attach it further down the cable. Thats how I would do it anyway

 

[indyjones]

Geffy I only want to use 1 device on it so my question is can i cut the wire off (flush to the secondary connector) and will the cable then properly behave as a short single device true master cable

 

[Taurus]

heeter did it and says it works. besides, both connectors tap into the same 40 wires. the other 40 are all ground wires to keep the first 40 from giving each other interference.

 

[Heeter]

Yeah, Taurus, IndyJones.

It works just fine. No problems whatsoever.

Heeter

 

[jonifen]

yeah it definitely works - done it myself too on my dads old PC - had the wiring looking superb in that machine - it was a shame to upgrade it in the end lol

 

[indyjones]

Funky cheers for the help one and all!

*My hot tip is simular to shorten floppy cables you can simply cut the wire off the otherside of the secondary connection and use this secondary to plug into the motherboard, (you must keep the twist at the primary end).*

Then you achive a short floppy cable hope that gives people ideas once again thanks