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General discussion

want to install internal dvd drive to burn my movies

Feb 11, 2005 8:38AM PST

I have a dell dimension desktop 8250,windows xp home edition.currently have 16xdvd drive that burns cd's onto my cd-rom drive.When I get my internal dvd drive for burning,I would assume that I would keep my 16x dvd drive and get rid of my cd-rom drive.since the 16x dvd drive is acting as the burner how would I turn it into the drive that is written to.I have read about master and slave and jumpers,but I would have no idea how to change or configure the drives to make them work properly.Most I've ever done is change a video card.If anyone can explain this to me,or walk me through it,I sure would appreciate it.
thankyou

Discussion is locked

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Hopefully, I have this right
Feb 12, 2005 11:57AM PST

There are drives that only read CD and DVDs and there are drives that can read and burn. You said you have a 16x DVD that will burn onto a CD-ROM drive. I am going to guess you meant to say you have a DVD reading device and a CD burner. Right so far? You are buying a DVD burner. This will read both CDs and DVDs as will your old DVD drive thus allowing the ability to read and burn both CDs and DVDs. If so, the best way to master/slave these two devices is to set both to cable select and use and 80 conductor cable. The slave will be on the connector furthest from the MB (the end connector and usually black). The slave will be on the connector in between the MB connector and the one on the other end. The slave connector us usually gray. You may then need to identify each device to your burner software. Hope this answers your question. Good luck.

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you mentioned slave twice?
Feb 12, 2005 10:30PM PST

thanks steven for answering my question.First,let me say that your explination of what I was incorrectly trying to communicate was perfect. If you reread your answer I think you will find that you mentioned slave twice,but probably meant to state the difference between master and slave,so I'm still not sure which is which.
also,how do you set cable select? and does a cable 80 normally come with the drive?I just ordered the memorex
16x dual layer dvd drive that was rated #1 on p.c. world website. thanks again.appreciate what you are doing for me.chazzy

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Correction. You're right, I messed up and
Feb 13, 2005 12:15AM PST

thanks for catching that. I wrote;

The slave will be on the connector furthest from the MB (the end connector and usually black).

I meant to say;

The master will be on the connector furthest from the MB (the end connector and usually black).

A cable may or may not come with a drive. It probably will come with a retail packaged product but not with an "OEM" drive. The master/slave relationship is really a misnomer when it comes to atapi devices. It has more useful meaning with hard drives in that the master is generally designated to contain the operating system. A single hard drive, on old platforms must be designated as master or single drive. They cannot be designated as slaves or will not work. This is not the case with atapi drives (CD/DVD, etc.) A single drive can be a slave. These are set with jumpers. With 40 conductor cable (old type), you need to set jumpers on the back of the drives to master and slave if you are using them on the same cable. These will be pins in an array of 3 to 5 pairs. There is no exact standard as to how they will be labeled so, hopefully, you will have printed material to help. The CS or cable select positions allow the cable to decide who is master and who is slave. One end (usually blue) will go the the motherboard connector. The other end connector (usually black) is for the master and the middle connector (usually gray) is for the slave. If you set both drives to cable select, where they reside on the cable determines their designation. Now, as I said, burner software might not always know the drives capabilites and you may have to tell it which device you will be reading from and which will be the write device. Hope that helps.

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think I got it
Feb 13, 2005 2:29AM PST

yeah,I think that I do understand.thanks for taking the time to explain this to me.I should be receiving my drive in a week or two.I'll let you know how it went.I printed out your letter,and plan to use it with instructions from manufacturer.again,thankyou,chazzy