Hi all,

I'm about to move a CD-R/RW/DVD combi drive over to another computer but it doesn't have any spare 39 pin IDE cables. there is another port on the motherboard for extra cables, but is there any thing I need to do apart from plugging in a new cable for this to work? (as in BIOS/CMOS changes etc)

Many thanks,

Tony

Most boards have 2 IDE connectors / channels: Primary & Secondary. The Primary is usually for the Hard Drives & the Secondary for DVD/CD drives. Each channel will (or can) handle 2 devices as Master / slave.

If the computer you are moving to has one of its' IDE channels open then yes; a new cable is all you need (plus a power connector from the PSU).

If both IDE channels are already occupied (4 devices) you can add a PCI adapter card to handle more IDE devices.

The BIOS is usually Default to Auto-detect devices so this shouldn't be a problem.

If you have to get a new IDE data cable, get an 80 conductor cable (ATA 66) to allow you to take advantage of higher data transfer rates (once all your IDE cables are updated).

Got that sorted, new problem being posted though!

Many thanks guys