On 28 Aug 2005 at 1:59, Venkat Viswanathan wrote:

> David Gillett's post (clipped):--
>
> <<<< Best possible results will be obtained if the motherboard/controller and
> drives use the same revision of the interface (and, in the case of
> Ultra/UDMA, the new cable), >>>>
>
> My mobo is ASUS P4GE-MX and the manual says [storage= 2xUltraDMA  100/66]
>
> after I bought the mobo about a year ago I simply connected my old
> reformatted maxtor HDD with an old 40 pin ribbon cable (I did not get
> any cable with the mobo)and installed the controller and drivers from
> the cd which came with the mobo and the o/s (Win 98 SE). In device
> manager, the controller shows as (Intel(R)82801 DB ultra ATA storage
> controller-24 CB). The system is working ok since then. So I presume
> your comment from the same post " But if the drive has a 40-pin
> connector, you should be able to use it just fine" applies here.
>
> Nevertheless I will greatly appreciate any input as to whether there
> is a separate UDMA cable available and whether there will be any
> advantage if I go in for one if it is.
>
> thanks and good day----Venkat Viswanathan

  As far as I understand it, the 80-conductor cable may be rquired to get
the most out of the system *IF* both controller and drive can do UDMA.  It
sounds like there's reason to believe that your existing drive is older than
that, and so it cannot benefit from the new cable.  [I believe I've seen a
case where an older DVD-ROM drive required a 40-wire cable and would not
work when an 80-wire cable was installed.]

David Gillett

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