CD drive cable?

[r1013]

I just bought a SX1040BII case. When I installed the CDRW and hooked up the cable it just barley reached.

I have a DVD and CDRW. I plugged in the CDRW at the very top and that reached ok with a little slack. BUT when I plugged in the DVD I had to pull it really tight! (from below at the motherboard)to get it to reach.

I have the DVD in the bottom where its closest. I also have an inch of slack above it (between it and the CDRW). But below it...( going to the motherboard) its almost like a guintar string (tight). I can't get it any closer. Everything seems to work just fine.. but is this a bad thing. If so.. do they make longer cables like that?

Thanks..

[krohnjw]

Yeah, they do make longer IDE cables you can buy. Any decent online retailer should have them for sale.

[Scott Tiger]

Cables longer than the spec - 18" I believe - are not gauranteed to work however. If you run into any problems you'll probably need to switch back to the 18" one.

[r1013]

Thanks... I went to newegg and they had them for $6 with $6 shipping each..... OR if you pay $7 each and order 3 you get them with free shipping... that is 24" 100/133.

Thanks again

[dunbar]

And keep in mind that a tight cable will most likely vibrate loose, separate the connectors from the ribbon wires, or even pull out of the drive or motherboard.... This will create massive errors, including data corruption.
I'd personally rearrange everything inside the case in order to give the cables some slack. And I'd use the shortest cables, as per Scott_Tigers post.