dale_nx26 Posted April 21, 2007 Report Share Posted April 21, 2007 Hi. My motherboard only has one IDE connector. I have an HDD and dvd drive, both of IDE interface. Since I can't connect both at once, I connected the HDD to the computer and set the DVD drive as an external USB drive. I was wondering if I can install Windows this way? thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-pops- Posted April 21, 2007 Report Share Posted April 21, 2007 IDE ports/connectors usually have the facility for connecting two devices per connector. You should therefore be able to connect the hard drive as "Master" on the end connector of the IDE cable and the optical drive as "Slave" on the middle connector.Ensure the cable is inserted the correct way round.It may be possible to do things the way you suggest but only if the motherboard has legacy USB - that is to say the motherboard has its own USB drivers rather than depending on Windows to provide them, which is the norm. From your brief description, it is not very likely that your motherboard has this facility. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dale_nx26 Posted April 21, 2007 Author Report Share Posted April 21, 2007 The thing is, the IDE cable can't reach both at once. It's too short even where both devices are nearest each other. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-pops- Posted April 21, 2007 Report Share Posted April 21, 2007 A new, longer cable would not cost very much money.What model is your motherboard? I can't recall a board with only one IDE connector. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rong Posted April 21, 2007 Report Share Posted April 21, 2007 Mine has only one and six or more SATA, It's an Asus with 940-pin AM2 socket, I put both on the one ribbon but had to put the DVD drive in the bottom slot in the case and the hard drive in the top hard drive slot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-pops- Posted April 21, 2007 Report Share Posted April 21, 2007 dale doesn't mention SATA so I assume does not have that facility. Even so, an IDE cable would cost very little and most likely get over the problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rong Posted April 21, 2007 Report Share Posted April 21, 2007 Sorry what I was trying to put over was that the newer boards are changing over to SATA, I don't have a SATA hard drive either at the moment even though that is probably the easiest way around the problem, buy a SATA hard drive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dale_nx26 Posted April 21, 2007 Author Report Share Posted April 21, 2007 It's an ASUS P5L-VM 1394. It has 4 additional SATA slots but i'm pretty short on $ for a new HDD. I might buy a longer IDE cable but I don't know if the two plugs are space far enough to connect both devices. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-pops- Posted April 21, 2007 Report Share Posted April 21, 2007 IDE cables are normally available in various lengths and unless your arrangement is extremely unusual, there will be one to fit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dale_nx26 Posted April 21, 2007 Author Report Share Posted April 21, 2007 I've heard increasing the length of the IDE cable (pass 18") will cause data corruption. Although, I just bought one that is 24" and it plugged into both devices. Hopefully, there will be no problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-pops- Posted April 21, 2007 Report Share Posted April 21, 2007 I'm having difficulty imagining the huge case you must have that requires a 24 inch IDE cable! :) I've quite often used 18 inch cables in the past with no problems. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dale_nx26 Posted April 22, 2007 Author Report Share Posted April 22, 2007 It's just that the two of three IDE plug on the cable (middle and end) are not spaced far enough for me to connect both devices at once. So i had to buy a 24" one. The MINIMUM distance between the HDD and burner required that long of a cable. I can't place them any closer. Otherwise, the case it's a regular mid-tower. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scarecrow Man Posted April 23, 2007 Report Share Posted April 23, 2007 As per the original question: No. You cannot install Windows from an external drive, because everytime the computer is restarted, the device is re-initialized. Windows will complain about not being able to find the CD, or that the install cannot continue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xx.jason.xx Posted April 26, 2007 Report Share Posted April 26, 2007 As per the original question: No. You cannot install Windows from an external drive, because everytime the computer is restarted, the device is re-initialized. Windows will complain about not being able to find the CD, or that the install cannot continue.I have installed XP using an external DVD drive.My mobo has the legacy USB drivers, though (its a ASUS A8R-MVP) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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