ide ribbon cable ????

**Aaron Ham** · 12-25-2005, 10:05 PM

is there a way to extend this cable say like 10 to 15 feet or do they make one that long. i want to put my pc in the trunk of my car, but i want the cd/dvd rom and may be floopy up front. I don't want to buy an external drive(all though i may have to and use a long usb cable) i'm trying to do my first car pc on a budget. all i need is a dvd writer and the sceen.

**0l33l** · 12-25-2005, 10:19 PM

10-15ft is beyond spect. Doesn't mean that people haven't done it.
Floppy - who the hell needs it?

As for CDrom - get the USB/Firewire enclosure.
USB can be taken much further, as it is serial, and IDE is parallel.

**Aaron Ham** · 12-25-2005, 10:54 PM

i was just looking on tigerdirect.com and found some enclousures that look desent.

**0l33l** · 12-25-2005, 10:56 PM

Originally Posted by Aaron Ham

i was just looking on tigerdirect.com and found some enclousures that look desent.

Make sure that they are for the appropriate drive. A 5.25" enclosure will not work with the slimline drives.

**FunkDaMonkMan** · 12-26-2005, 12:16 AM

It won't work. Your best bet is to go w/ USB.

**LegoGT** · 12-28-2005, 06:09 PM

Originally Posted by Aaron Ham

is there a way to extend this cable say like 10 to 15 feet or do they make one that long. i want to put my pc in the trunk of my car, but i want the cd/dvd rom and may be floopy up front. I don't want to buy an external drive(all though i may have to and use a long usb cable) i'm trying to do my first car pc on a budget. all i need is a dvd writer and the sceen.

I think IDE spec is about 36" before signal loss and crosstalk become issues. Beyond that you need to go USB or FireWire. I have so many things wired to USB that I chose to run a dedicated FireWire cable for my DVD drive. I'm not sure where you live, but Fry's Electronics carries both the enclosures and the standalone adapters that just plug in the back. I think I paid $50 for the adapter.

**PatO** · 12-30-2005, 12:39 AM

SEARCH!
Tons of threads on this subject.
Yes - extending IDE cables that long is possible.
But success is sketchy. Compare the cost of both options, and the risk that IDE might not work. You may find that a USB2 or FireWire enclosure is you best bet.

Most local computer repair shops should be able to hook you up with long IDE cables... At least they did a few years ago.

**lez** · 12-30-2005, 03:49 AM

use a ide/usb dongle.

works fine for me, and I can play dvd's etc.

you will need it to be usb2, your mb will need usb2 or a usb2 pci card etv, dont FFS buy a 'via' usb2 card, it will not work with XP

I made a 'duel' usb lead, I bought 2 of 1m leads, cut them in half. I got 10ft of 8 core alarm flex (do not use cat5), connected it all up, voila, I run one half of the cable from my MB usb1 socket to my front keyboard/mouse, the 'other side' into my usb2 card to run my upfront usb2 hub which brings in my dvd and card reader.

**tom2112** · 12-30-2005, 11:46 AM

I have a special made 12 or 15 foot IDE cable. It's 80 conductor (like most new IDE cables), which helps avoid signal degradation. The cable works with my slimline CD/DVD drive. However, it is not perfect. It doesn't like to write CD's and reading discs is slower that if it's connected by a normal cable. I got the distict impression that the drive was encountering errors and re-reading/re-sending data. So I switched to USB and haven't had any problems at all.

So my advice to you is not to waste your time and money on a long IDE cable and just buy a cheap USB drive enclosure - rip the electronics/guts out of it and throw the rest away. You'll save yourself lots of time, trouble, and money.

Of course, if you're dead set on using IDE, I'll make you a deal on that long IDE cable I have!