[Slamman]

In my tests and trials, I use an IDE cable connecting to HDDs that just sit outside the case, you might not want to leave it that way of course, but for testing, don't bother mounting it back in the way of access to everything.

Stinky being cryptic is not much help, I believe he's referring to the JUMPERS, not just which drive connects where, this is a problem that SATA sets out to resolve, but SATA drives have some pins as well, I believe they ARE jumpers of some sort. I never bothered to look into it

What you also asked about was the two LEFT MOST ports, one is a wide 4 pin connector to the ANALOG audio source jack mating on the mainboard (same on both ends) The TWO PIN connector is for relaying DIGITAL AUDIO to the board, the IDE does this primarily however, and the cables are RARE, if you ask me

This post has been edited by Slamman on Friday, Apr 6 2012, 02:39

[Stinky12]

SATA don't need jumpers to set as Master or Slave, only IDE. SATA however does have them, but they're for other purposes not for setting as Master or Slave.
I am helping, being cryptic helps the users learn, discover,and get familiar with their components. If you give them the answers, it's just asking one direct answer after another which
won't help some one learn a thing or two.
Too bad these days, new techies will never get the old school treatment when it comes to manually setting your CPU clock or resolving a resource conflict two
devices. Ever hear of IRQs?

A ISA sound card has a resource conflict with one of your devices, which IRQ would you set to resolve it?
Anyone?!

[Slamman]

I'm not even implying the pins are jumpers for the same application as IDE, which is of course, pre-dating it quite a bit, but the pins on the back of the drive serve some purpose.
With my mating USB HDD connectors (internal conversion to external), the four power pins are left disconnected, they are grouped by themselves, away from the main lot of pins. For those less technically inclined, they might have a hard time visualizing the hardware if it's not in front of them
Look up a few images online if there's some confusion
Anyway, it's always miffed me as to why the external method can eschew these pins! haha

Since you bring up IRQ like it's legacy, it's worth me saying it's still very much part of the software/hardware equation, it's just that perhaps more "under the hood" for the casual PC and laptop user
IRQ as I think of it, in terms of associating commands within the driver context and in relation to hardware commands that must be specifically engaging a device at any given time, these are assigned ahead of time, mostly in the BIOS sense, but later in the Control Panel System Properties if need be. Usually if you set your BIOS to automate the process, it can, but in Windows, check your SYSTEM control, where you can remove or just "turn off" driver devices, I feel it's a good idea to turn one off rather then remove it if you lack the disc to reinstall, and you want to try another one, just make sure they are segregated or removed before you re-enlist the service of the former.
I'm sure I made this more confusing by forgetting some specific terms! hahaha I'm in Vista now.

I'll be trying to get a bootable USB going myself, so drop a PM if you're interested in following up, I may post, but it sounds like you're getting fairly discouraged already

This post has been edited by Slamman on Saturday, Apr 7 2012, 01:59