ide cable - does master, slave etc matter

[sare^baw's]

this may seem like an obvious answer but i dont like to assume things where pc hardware is concerned

i was wanting to know if it matters which way round the connectors are used on an ide cable, i have these alaska round coloured cables i bought from oc a while ago and they are marked 'master' / 'slave' / 'system board'

can they be used any old way round or is it essential to use them in the way they are marked?

 

[sare^baw's]

What matters is that pin 1 goes to pin 1 on the drives and the board. It's marked with a black strip conductor or a little triangle or a number 1.

yeah as they all seem to have a location tooth on the connectors there should be no problem

im wondering if i can plug the mobo end into the master drive and vice versa

 

[sare^baw's]

You can do that... you can reverse the cable alright.

The Master and Slave bits really indicate what setup you will get with Cable select enabled (via the jumpers on both drives)

AFAIK most modern ide controllers can handle the slave being on the first bit of the cable and the master on the second.... at least any i've used in a while didnt complain.

that is good to know, cheers

as i might need to use one of my round cable in reverse in my htpc set up but thought i would check its ok before i do so.

is there such a thing as small short single ide cables?

 

[sare^baw's]

and does that mean cable select configures the drives automatically?