Location of the jumper, IDE connectors, and ribbon cables
The jumpers for hard disk(s) and CD/DVD drives are located on the back of the drive. The jumper is a small metal slider covered by a rectangular piece of plastic. Jumpers for hard drives are designed to slide over and connect metal 2 pins together so that electricity can flow between them.
Before you can use the jumpers, you must know the hard drive setting for each pair of pins.
Pin information may be printed directly on the hard drive label, the hard drive PCA board under the pins, or etched in the surrounding plastic or metal near the pins. Some drives use a default setting when there is no jumper attached. The hard drive settings can be, but are not limited to, the following:
MS, MA, DS, 0, or M = Master or Device 0. The drive is the first drive to be used on the cable/channel (connected to the end connector on an IDE cable).
SL, PK, 1, or S = Slave or Device 1. The drive is the second drive to be used on the cable/channel (connected to the middle connector on an IDE cable).
CS, CSEL = Cable Select. The drive can be automatically set up by a capable system.
If you cannot find the names of the hard drive settings for the pins, you will need to refer to information from the drive manufacturer - either from the drive manufacturer's support Web site or from any available manuals that came with the drive when it was purchased.
The pins are usually located on the back of the drive next to the ribbon cable connector. The drive should have three or four pairs of pins for setting the drive.
Next, you need to know the location and type of each available channel connector on the motherboard. There are two main types of connectors used by drives:
IDE and SATA. An IDE ribbon cable plugs into either a primary or secondary IDE connector on the mother board. Each IDE cable supports up to two IDE compatible hard drives
A SATA cable plugs into a SATA connector. Each cable supports one drive. Generally, no jumper configuration is necessary.
Each of connectors is labeled on the motherboard. Your computer may have one or no IDE connectors as well as no SATA or many SATA connectors. The capabilities of attaching a hard drive to your computer are limited by the number and type of IDE and SATA connectors on the motherboard. For example you cannot connect 2 SATA drives if there is only one SATA connector available on the motherboard.
Figure 1: Example of motherboard connectors for drives (your computer configuration may be different)
1 - IDE connectors (primary and secondary)
2 - SATA connectors 1 through 4
Lastly, the type of cable used may also affect the configuration of your drives.
For SATA drives, all that is needed is to connect the SATA cable to the motherboard connector and the drive.
Figure 2: Example of SATA connections
1 - Power cable connection
2 - SATA cable and connector (90 degree type, connector type may vary)
For IDE drives, however, use an IDE ribbon cable (40 wire standard or 80 wire Ultra-IDE or EIDE). The ribbon cable connects a hard drive or CD/DVD drive to the motherboard. It is possible to connect up to two devices on the same ribbon cable, as long as the cable has three connectors (one that plugs into the motherboard and two that plug into the back of the drives).
Figure 3: Upper IDE cable connectors
1 - Slave connector (middle)
2 - Master connector (end)
Figure 4: Example of an IDE connection
1 - IDE ribbon cable and connection
2 - power cable connection
Now that you understand the hard drive setting, the channel connectors, and the cable types, you are ready to check the jumper settings for the drives.
