2.5" to 3.5" IDE adapter cable the wrong way round?

[Zac67]

The adapter is of a simple mechanical / electrical type and will work either way, provided you connect it correctly (i.e. the 4 power pins from the 2.5" side lead nowhere) and the device is compatible. I've built adapters like this many years ago - reconnecting a standard 2,5" cable to a 3.5" connector - and they all worked.

[Zac67]

A straight-through gender changer reverses pin order! (or rather: chances are high)

Dunno why you actually need something like that since all IDE devices are male... If you're just using a standard 40 pin cable as extension: you ARE reversing pin order. Just check with a simple multimeter.

IDE hard drives and ATAPI devices have the exact same physical interface - however, some USB adapters work only with one kind (ATAPI is more like 'SCSI over IDE').

As a pretty simple solution to your problem: get a halfway decent USB-to-IDE adapter and off you go.  ;-)

[Zac67]

motorollin wrote:

Zac67 wrote:
A straight-through gender changer reverses pin order! (or rather: chances are high)

I can't get my head around how that is possible, but I'll take your word for it.

Just imagine using two 40 pin cables, one extending the other. Their middle connection is that gender changer of yours. You have two options for connecting them:
either the small coding studs face the same way - oops, look at the colored conductors for pin 1: you're connecting 1-39, 2-40, 3-37, ...
or you match the colored conductors to the same side - oops, now your connecting upside down (studs on opposite sides): 1-2, 3-4, ...

Zac67 wrote:
Dunno why you actually need something like that since all IDE devices are male...

The drives are all male. So the interface is female. The cable I have is female both ends. One female end connects to the male drive. So the other female end needs to go to the interface, which is also female. That's why I need the gender changer.

I see - it's an adapter for connecting a 2.5" directly, w/o cable.

 ;-)

[Zac67]

The power pins from the 2.5" plug don't connect to the 3.5" side, so that's not a danger. However, how the rest of the signals behave when reversed is beyond me...

[Zac67]

motorollin wrote:

Zac67 wrote:
The power pins from the 2.5" plug don't connect to the 3.5" side, so that's not a danger.

Not even if you use the cable the opposite way round to how it was intended and reverse the pinout of the 44 pin side?

Well, if you reverse it on the 44 pin side then - yes. Pins 41 & 42 carry +5V, ending up on two data pins (might cause some damage to the I/F, but lower probability), and the GND pins 43 & 44 go to _RESET and GND - no problem. I wouldn't try it, but chances are good you get away with it.  ;-)