I think my DVD burner has crapped out which is the primary disk drive.
It's linked to a secondary drive read-only below it. Both drives are linked with the IDE/PATA single cable where one is primary, second is "slave": http://c1.neweggimages.com/NeweggImage/productimage/27-106-085-04.jpg
Naturally, i didn't realize this until after and opened up my tower.
The new DVD/BluRay drives all seem to utilize SATA type:
http://c1.neweggimages.com/NeweggImage/productimage/27-106-254-04.jpg
So, what's the proper way to install a new drive like this?
Can the secondary drive run off "slave" pin alone, or should i swap it out to "primary" pin?
I don't think i have an available SATA link since I just installed a new 500GB drive a few months back and might have used the last slot on the main board.
any ideas are appreciated!
If you only have one ATA/IDE drive, set the jumper so it is the primary/master drive and use the end connector on the cable.
If you don't have an available SATA connector on the motherboard you can purchase an add-in card so you can use more SATA devices, such as the DVD/BluRay you just purchased; otherwise you will have to delte one of your current SATA drives to use the new DVD. If you have a small SATA hard-drive, transfer all your data from it to the new 500GB drive, then remove the small drive and use the newly freed SATA connector for your new DVD.
About the SATA drive, what he said. Get a PCI card. When you do, get a card with an eSATA port so that you can attach a RAID or another big eSATA box if you decide to.
With the PATA drive, unless your motherboard is vintage, it shouldn't matter. Modern BIOS should auto-detect attached ATS devices.
thanks guys...i'll see what i can figure out!