Installing an IDE CD Drive

IDE or Integrated Drive Electronics is a way in which some hard drives and CD/DVD drives connect to the motherboard. It is where the data and power travels through so that CD's and DVD's can be read and wrote to.

IDE is a common but older drive technology and is quickly being replaced with the newer and faster SATA, SATA II and SATA III drive technologies.

Step 1: Know Your Parts

Knowing what parts you have before installing is important and useful. Before you install you should have:

An IDE cable - This is where the data will be passing through, from the drive to the motherboard. It looks like this:

An IDE compatible CD/DVD drive - This will have a long, thin, rectangular cable connector on it and will look like this:

You also need to make sure that your motherboard has IDE connections on it. They look the same as the one on the back of the CD drive in the picture above.

Step 2: Installing the Drive

Take a look at the video below which shows you how to install the drive:

 
First you will need to locate the mounted drive racks on your computer. This is where the CD drive will be held in place when you install it. It should be positioned in the space left in the plastic casing on your PC case. Once the drive is in place you should secure it down with a few screws. This will prevent it from sliding out in the future.


You should now go on to plug one end of the IDE cable into the back of the connector on the drive, and do the same for the other end of the cable, except plugging that one into the motherboard.

Take one of the power supply cables that have four circular pins on them (usually called P4) and plug that into the connection that matches on the drive. This will allow the drive to power up and function.

You should now have a fully installed and fully functioning CD drive. Enjoy!