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  • #1

    External Hard Drive Question

    Hey folks,

    I've ordered a PATA hdd (Western Digital 160 GB) and a Rocketfish Enclosure. What I want/need to know boils down to this. The jumper on the HDD is already set to Cable Select on the drive. Will I need to re-set it to Master for my OS to be able to read it? (Win XP SP3) Thanks in advance.
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  • #2
    Probably not, since it's going to be a USB connection.
    I'd leave it as is, and let the OS discover "New Hardware". Don't need to install drivers or any spiffy software, just make sure it's formatted to NTFS. Quick format. You'll be good to go.
    In my heart, in my soul, I'm a woman for rock & roll.
    She's as fast as slugs on barbituates.

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    • #3
      Agreed. Externals should not need to have the Master/Slave/CSel setting changed. I'm not sure that it matters at all, actually, for USB.
      "For a musician, the SNES sound engine is like using Crayola Crayons. Nobuo Uematsu used Crayola Crayons to paint the Sistine Chapel." - Jeremy Jahns (re: "Dancing Mad")
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      • #4
        Just to be on the safe side, read the manual for the enclosure. If it does require the jumpers to be set to something other than Cable Select, it will tell you in there.
        I AM the evil bastard!
        A+ Certified IT Technician

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        • #5
          Personally I've always set IDE drives manually, master on an ex-enclosure, as I don't like cable select (seen too many motherboards throw a wobbler on CS).

          It should work ok on CS, if not try master.
          Last edited by Amadan; 01-02-2012, 04:05 PM.
          Not y3k compatible

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          • #6
            I would set it to master, as some drive controllers dislike cable select.

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            • #7
              Strictly speaking, it is the cable which governs cable select. You should always populate the Master end of the cable before the Slave part - that will solve any controller problems. Some very old cables don't have the selection logic built into them, but these should be rare now.

              An enclosure's cable will almost certainly be set for a Master drive.

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              • #8
                Amadan
                Personally I've always set IDE drives manually, master on an ex-enclosure, as I don't like cable select (seen too many motherboards throw a wobbler on CS).
                You too? I can't believe how many cables I've swapped out because of that. Thank the FSM for Sata.

                Chromatix
                Strictly speaking, it is the cable which governs cable select.
                Correct.

                Now, I know not of this Rocketfish crap the OP is talking about, but my experience with my Cables Unlimited USB-to-Sata/Pata/Ata-6 (laptop) adapter may apply. The adapter only allows a single drive at a time. Thus, the drive to be connected to the Pata/Ata-6 should be set to CS or Master, which on a non-CS cable is the same thing.

                I did have problems with a drive that was set to slave, as well as an older WD that had the different "Master, Single" and "Master, Slave Present" settings - use Master/Single. Other than that, it read FAT, VFAT, NTFS, and EXT3/4 without issue (I don't care for ReiserFS or have need for BTRFS, yet).

                barcode

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                • #9
                  Assuming that this is the unit you're talking about, Page 5 of the manual says to set the jumpers to master.
                  I AM the evil bastard!
                  A+ Certified IT Technician

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