PCI SATA Card.

[TomUK]

Ok, i am buying this PCI SATA Card:

As you can see there is an IDE input bit on the card. I presume if i want to use this card for SATA connections i have to put an IDE cable into the IDE input, am i right?

In my PC i have many IDE cables for, Hard drives, DVD drives and Floppy drive. What i found strange was on the IDE cable connected to the floppy drive it had the word "FLOPPY" printed on the cable. On the IDE cable connected to the DVD Drive it had the words "CD DRIVE" printed on it. On the IDE cable connected to the Hard Drive it had the words "HDRIVE" printed on it. (These arn't the exact words printed on the cables but it was enough to see what IDE cable connects to certain bits of hardware). Have Dell (my computer manufacturer) printed these words on the IDE cables deliberately so it's easier for staff to put the PC's together or are they meant to be like that in all computers?

I need to know this because i don't know what IDE cable i am meant to connect to the SATA card?

Below picture shows the type of IDE cables which are currently plugged into my Hard drive and DVD drives. (Ignore the SATA cable on the right).

Thanks for all help.

Tom.

 

[orderoftheflame]

They all have the same plugs on the end (i think) and the difference lies in the cabling itself

Hard drive / CD / DVD cables are one and the same, (again i think) and are straight all across.

Floppy Cables have a twist in them.

should be able to see it in this picture.

 

[TomUK]

They all have the same plugs on the end (i think) and the difference lies in the cabling itself

Hard drive / CD / DVD cables are one and the same, (again i think) and are straight all across.

Floppy Cables have a twist in them.

should be able to see it in this picture.

Yep, that's how my floppy one is.

So... Will i need to plug an IDE cable into the SATA Card for it to work?

Also... If i do need to plug an IDE cable into the SATA card i don't know how i will do it?... Since i need the hard drive IDE cable plugged in at all time (obviously) and i need an IDE cable plugged into my DVD drive because for some strange reason when i start up my PC, it says "Primary Key not found, press F1 to continue" and i'm preety sure it has something to do with the DVD drive. If anyone could give me a more in depth explination on what this message means and/or how to get rid of it, it would be appreciated.

Thanks.

Tom.

 

[Berserker]

Simple, for what you want to do, you don't plug anything into that socket. Leave it empty.

Of course, you can plug a few hard disks into that connector if you want, but don't plug a cable from your motherboard in there. Bad things might happen.

The card you have supports up to two SATA and two PATA/IDE devices.

 

[Werewolf]

HD/DVD/CD IDE cables are generally the same and interchangable (although older "40" connector cables will only let the drives run at DMA33).

Floppy drives use a different connection and cable (although the cable looks similar as it is still a "ribbon" cable, but with different connections and a "twist").


With regards to the cables being labled, that is normally by the PC manufacturer to make life easier for their system builders, and for novice users who may be trying to upgrade their machines - normally the printing on the cables will at most have the cable type/manufacturer (in very small print) and in larger lettering "System board" "Master" and "Slave".