Instructions:- Place your mouse over the rollover image and the image will change from showing the Hard drive cable to displaying the hard drive and controller socket. Also, by holding the mouse over the image an associated image label can be seen.
Hard Disk Drive Connections
The hard disk drive will normally be connected to an IDE (Integrated Drive Electronics) connection. These connections have 40 connector pins, but the connections on the motherboard will have one pin missing, to ensure correct connection. There may be two of these on the motherboard.
If so, the hard disk drive will be connected to the primary IDE controller - indicated as IDE1.
The CD-ROM drive has an IDE connection (IDE2) or it may share a connection with the hard disk drive.
The floppy disk disk drive connection is similar to that for the hard disk drive, but not as wide. It has 34 connector pins and the connection on the motherboard will have one pin missing to ensure correct connection. It is normally indicated as DISKETTE or FDC.
The hard drive controller serves as an interface between the motherboard and the hard drive.
Many modern computers have a primary and a secondary controller integrated into the motherboard.