DVD and HDD on the same cable?

bubulac · 07-20-2006, 08:19 PM

I bought a new computer and it has only one IDE connector. A DVD drive is already connected there. I have an older IDE HDD that I would like to use with the new computer, in addition to the SATA HDD that is already in the new computer.
Can I connect the IDE HDD and the DVD using the same cable?
Thanks to any suggestion,
Cristian

Bruce Hill · 07-20-2006, 08:31 PM

Hi Cristian!

Welcome to LQ!

Yes, you can. My suggestion is to put the IDE hard drive
as master, and the ATAPI IDE DVD drive as slave. To do that
you will need to check the jumper on the drives.

You'll also need to edit your /etc/fstab file to give them
the appropriate device names:

Code:

/dev/hda = primary IDE controller (IDE0), master drive
/dev/hdb = primary IDE controller (IDE0), slave drive
/dev/hdc = secondary IDE controller (IDE1), master drive
/dev/hdd = secondary IDE controller (IDE1), slave drive

So in this example you would have the DVD drive as /dev/hdb
and the IDE hard drive as /dev/hda. In /etc/fstab you will
only need to change the DVD drive from hda to hdb. The IDE
hard drive will be need more attention.

Once you put it in the computer, and boot, please issue as
root "fdisk -l" and post that information so that we can
help you with the hard drive information. And please let us
know what operating system and setup you have on that drive.

In newer computers it doesn't matter what position they are
on the IDE cable, so long as one is jumpered master and the
other jumpered slave.

You should also use an 80-pin cable, especially for the DVD.

Could you also please post your Linux distribution? This matters,
as they all do some things differently.

You can put that and other information in your LQ UserCP.