Re: IDE Cable

AZ Nomad wrote:
On Thu, 11 Jan 2007 10:07:57 -0500, Ben Olive <ben.olive@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:



Is it possible to use both a hard drive and an optical drive on the same cable?


It's possible, but a very very bad idea. IDE can't walk and chew gum at
the same time. While doing a seek on the CD, a signifigantly time consuming
operation, all hard drive access will be blocked. Send the ten bucks and
get a PCI ide controller card if you're short IDE ports.

Depends on what you are doing. I have a DVD and a hot-swap ide drive on the same cable. The HD is a backup drive and doesn't tend to get used when the CD is being used. So I wasn't aware of how inconvenienced I was until I saw this thread after 3 years of operation. (Sort of like the Coyote doesn't fall until he looks and sees he's run over the edge of the cliff.) :-)

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Ron House house@xxxxxxxxxx
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