Installing and Configuring a CD-ROM Drive

External CD-ROM drives are “installed” simply by connecting them to the parallel or SCSI port, as appropriate, and connecting power, although SCSI models may require setting jumpers to configure SCSI ID and termination. Internal CD-ROM drives are 5.25” half-height devices, and require the same physical installation steps as any other 5.25” externally accessible drive. The exact configuration steps required differ between ATAPI and SCSI interfaces, as described in the following sections.

Installing and Configuring an ATAPI CD-ROM Drive

ATAPI CD-ROM drives are installed just like any other ATAPI/IDE device. Other than physical installation, the only decisions you need make are whether to install the drive on the Primary or Secondary ATA interface and whether to jumper the drive as Sole, Master, or Slave. In general, use the following guidelines:

  • On a system with one or two ATA hard drives and one ATAPI CD-ROM drive, install the first hard drive as Primary Master (PM), the second hard drive, if present, as Primary Slave (PS), and the CD-ROM drive as Secondary Master (SM).

  • On a system with three ATA hard drives and a CD-ROM drive, install the first two hard drives as above, the third hard drive as SM, and the CD-ROM drive as Secondary Slave (SS).

  • On a system with one or two ATA hard drives, an ATAPI CD-ROM drive, and an ATAPI tape drive, install the hard drives as above, the CD-ROM drive as SM, and the tape drive as SS.

  • On a system with an ...

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