Just a quick query before I go shopping for some round cables. Are all
ATA-133 cables backwards compatible with ATA-100 drives and motherboards?

"Cuzman" <cuzNOSPAM@supanet.com> wrote in message
news:bgi8c9$p6b6n$1@ID-66441.news.uni-berlin.de
Yup. Just be sure you get 80-wire/40-pin cables. The old
40-wire/40-pin cables won't work above ATA-33 (and the controller will
restrict you to ATA-33 if you use the old 40-wire/40-pin cables).

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On Sun, 3 Aug 2003 06:52:46 +0100, "Cuzman" <cuzNOSPAM@supanet.com>
wrote::

Suggesting that they're "backwards compatible" suggests that there's
actually a difference. Perhaps in labelling, but as far as I know
ATA-100 and ATA-133 cables are identical. 80 conductors, 40 pins.

In a fix, even the older 40 conductor cables will work. The physical
connections are the same, but the additional crosstalk will introduce
more errors, so the controller will throttle down the transfer speeds.
----------------------------------------
Thanks,

MCheu

If Cables are Ultra ATA they will work with ATA66, ATA100, and ATA133.
These Cables should have 80 wires. 40 of the cables are for data and the 40
in-between are suppose to separate and protect the data. How well rounded
cables work is questionable. I would guess these companies test them for
some quality. Even with 80 wire cables you often have to bend them to get
them to work and go to the desired point. In this sense the shorter the
wires the better the data transfer. 18 inches is suppose to be the maximum
length. I know they make them longer, and I have some that are longer.
They make them in 24 and 36 inch lengths, but shorter cables are
recommended. If you can keep the Hard Drive Cables to 18 inches that would
be a good idea.