# 80-pin and 40-pin IDE Cable



## a_to_z123 (Oct 16, 2005)

Hullo Guys!!!

Recently the slave connector of my IDE cable got damaged. so I thought to replace the cable with the one I got with my CD-Writer.
Now I saw that the one which came with CD-Writer has thick wires than the older one and also they are less in number. But the connector socket is the same on both the cables.
Are these what we call a 40-pin and 80pin cable?
Will there be any difference in performance as I've my HDD on primary master connected with the IDE cable having thin wires.
I hope you understand what I mean.
Plz tell me what I shall do??


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## alib_i (Oct 16, 2005)

You are absolutely right.
Just that we call them wrongly ... we should call them 40-pin 40-wire cable and 40-pin 80-wire cables. But commonly ppl call them 40-pin and 80-pin cables.

Both type of cables dont have different sockets, only the thickness of wires looks different from outside.
(And these CD-Writers give only a 40-pin cable with them .. never seen one which gives 80-pin cable with them.)
The following pics will make it clear.
*www.mikeshardware.com/pics/ide8040pin.jpg
*www.storagereview.com/guideImages/z_000524wires4080.jpg
All sockets in a 40-pin cable are black in colour.
and sockets in 80-pin cable are blue, black and grey in colour (blue one goes to motherboard)

About permorfance .. 
Yes .. there is difference
40-pin cables support a maximum of "Ultra Mode DMA Mode 2" (33MBps)
80-pin cables can reach "Ultra Mode DMA Mode 5" (100MBps)
(both are pretty high values .. doesnt affect day to day work .. but still better if we have 80-pin one)


Some real good info about this:
*www.storagereview.com/guide2000/ref/hdd/if/ide/modesUDMA.html
*www.storagereview.com/guide2000/ref/hdd/if/ide/confCable.html
*www.storagereview.com/guide2000/ref/hdd/if/ide/confCable80.html

Next time you go to buy an IDE cable .. be sure to buy a 80-wire one .. it's worth the money.

-----
alibi


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## pimpom (Oct 17, 2005)

The extra 40 wires in an 80-wire cable are not data lines. They act as electrical shields between adjacent data lines to reduce cross-talk or interference, and are grounded, i.e., they are connected to electrical earth. Reducing cross-talk makes it practicable to use the faster UDMA mode.

As the old saying goes, you can't get something for nothing. Each conductor in an 80-conductor cable is much thinner than those in a 40-conductor cable. So they are much more fragile, i.e., they break easily, and you have to handle them more carefully.

The 40-wire cable can tolerate a lot of flexing, but the 80-wire type cannot. Be careful when fitting, disconnecting or bending them.


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## it_waaznt_me (Oct 17, 2005)

And ..When I use a 80 Pin connector, my drive is recognized as ATA 66 and when I use 40 pin, its not .. ( I have an ancient PC and it support ATA 66 Only and often I need to connect my friend's hdd on my system ..) .. So I use 80 pin connector on both IDE .. 80 Pin costs more too (80 = Rs 75 , 40 = Rs 40 ) ..


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## Kniwor (Oct 17, 2005)

alib_i said:
			
		

> And these CD-Writers give only a 40-pin cable with them .. never seen one which gives 80-pin cable with them.



and that's because no CD-writers aint going to use that speed...


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## a_to_z123 (Oct 17, 2005)

Well that's been well explained by all of you.
I got my answer.
Thx to you all!!!


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