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| Product List and Pricing |
Type | Ribbon Material | Pins | Common Uses | Pictures of Cable |
| Click Here | IDE | PVC | 40 | Used for ATA-100/133 Ultra DMA IDE drives. (up to 133 MB/Sec.) |
PVC 80 |
| Click Here | SCSI | PVC | 50 | Used for older SCSI devices that do not use Ultra Fast-20 speeds. (SE or HVD)(10MB/Sec. or less) |
PVC 50 |
| Click Here | SCSI | TEFLON | 50 | Used for Ultra SCSI devices. (SE or HVD)(20MB/Sec.) |
TEF 50 |
| Click Here | SCSI | TEFLON | 68 | Used for Ultra Wide SCSI devices. (SE or HVD)(40MB/Sec. or less) |
TEF 68 |
| Click Here | SCSI | TWIST 'N FLAT | 68 | Used for Ultra2 Wide SCSI devices. (LVD, Ultra160, Ultra3)(80MB/Sec. or more) |
TNF 68 |
| Click Here | SCSI | TEFLON | 80 | Used to extend an SCA device out of a tight installation area. |
TEF 80 |
Ribbon cable tutorial
What kind of ribbon cable do I need?
In determining which ribbon cable you need, you must first identify what type of device you are attempting to hook up. Most internal devices that require ribbon cables fall into two different categories: IDE or SCSI. In the past, it was very simple to determine the difference between IDE and SCSI cables because IDE cables had 40 conductors or less, and SCSI cables had 50 conductors or more. With the introduction of IDE Ultra DMA ATA-66 hard drives, this has changed.
IDE:
Now, IDE cables still use a 40 pin IDC style connector, but they have two different counts on the amount of conductors they use.
| IDE Ultra DMA 33 or less | Use 40 pin, 40 conductor cable |
| IDE Ultra DMA 66/100/133 | Use 40 pin, 80 conductor cable |
The 80 pin cable puts a ground pin between each control and data signal, thus improving signal reliability. Since ATA-133 cables are not overly expensive, I would always recommend buying the 80 conductor cable. You never know when you may need it during an upgrade, and it may save you a trip to the store.
SCSI:
In every document I have ever read including both IDE and SCSI, IDE is always covered first because it is easier to work with in almost every way. I am not saying that SCSI is unworthy of the extra effort. The first step in determining what type of SCSI cable you need is to look at how many conductors you need in your cable. SCSI can be broken down into two different types, wide and narrow(16-bit or 8-bit). Wide SCSI uses 68 or 80 conductors in it's cable. Narrow SCSI uses 50 conductors.
The next step is to determine the speed you will be using on the cable.
For 50 pin cables, there are two options: Ultra (Fast-20 aka 20MB/Sec.) and non-Ultra (Fast, Fast-10, 10 MB/Sec. or less). For Ultra SCSI, you should use TEFLON cabling. For non-ultra, you can use either TEFLON or PVC. If you have any Ultra devices anywhere on your SCSI bus, you need to use TEFLON cabling.
For 68 pin cables, there are three options: Ultra2 Wide(Fast-40 aka 80MB/Sec.), Ultra Wide (Fast-20 aka 40MB/Sec.), and Wide (Fast Wide, Fast-10, 20 MB/Sec.). You may ask yourself, "Why is Fast-40 transferring at 80MB/Sec.?". The answer is: "16 bit transfers" move data twice as fast as "8 bit transfers", so anything "wide" will double it's "Fast-" rating.
For Ultra2 Wide, you should use TWIST 'N FLAT cabling. For Ultra Wide, you should use TEFLON. For Wide, you can use any of these cables. You can use PVC for Wide SCSI cables, but we have discontinued the sales of PVC because they are very rarely used. Almost all Wide devices today are Ultra or Ultra2.
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