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Installing Internal and External Drives
Often an “I” at the end
of a drive model number means “Internal.” And, an “E”
at the end of the model number means “external.” Internal
drives are usually less expensive. So, unless you really need to move
the drive between multiple PCs, you might want to purchase an internal
drive and save some money. Many people purchase external drives because
they aren’t comfortable opening up their PC. But because you know
how to build and upgrade a PC, an internal DVD IDE drive is a great
choice.
Internal IDE DVD drives install just
like any other IDE drive, such as your CD-RW drive or your computer’s
hard drive. At the back of the drive, there will be a jumper to configure
the drive as master, slave, or cable select. There will be a molex power
connector to power the drive. There will be an IDE ribbon cable to send
and receive signals between the drive and the mainboard.
So, once you’ve installed a
CD drive, you know everything you need to know to install DVD drives.
Put a DVD drive on the mainboard’s
secondary IDE interface. Try to leave the mainboard’s primary IDE
interface exclusively for your computer’s hard drive. If you have
both a DVD drive and a CD-RW drive, you probably should put both on
the secondary IDE interface, before adding a second device to the primary
IDE interface. This is because only one device can send and receive
signals through the IDE ribbon cable at one time. You don’t want
your computer’s main hard drive waiting for the DVD or CD drive
to finish using the cable. The PC’s main hard drive should have
uninterrupted access to the mainboard.
In addition to internal IDE drives,
there is a wide selection of external DVD burners using USB (the Universal
Serial Bus) which allows the burner to be easily moved from PC to PC.
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How to Build Your Own PC (http://www.PCGuide.com/byop/) on PCGuide.com
Version 1.0 - Version Date: May 4, 2005
Adapted with permission from a work created by Charlie Palmer.
PCGuide.com Version © Copyright 2005 Charles M. Kozierok. All Rights Reserved.
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