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Here I'll show you how to install an IDE device. Other names refer to basically the same type, names like enhanced IDE and ATAPI refer to basically the same bus type. IDE devices come in different shapes, i.e. CD-Rom player DVD Rom player CD-writer CD-ReWriter DVD/CD-writer combo Harddisks internal ZIP/JAZZ drive etc.

So what is IDE?

IDE is a bustype used for mass storage, commonly used inside your PC.
Mass storage devices are CD-Rom players and harddrives.

The IDE bus is typically identified by it's 40 pin connector (2 rows of 20 pins), used for parallel data transfer between mainboard and data storage device. The come in two shape;

• 40 PIN CONNECTOR
  This is the type of connector you will find in a common desktop PC.
  
  
• 44 PIN MINI CONNECTOR
  We hardly ever see this type of connector as this one is being used for 2.5" harddisk, which you usually find in a laptop or some very small external harddrives.

The are usually connected using so called flat cable. Here we see 3 variants;

• NORMAL FLAT CABLE
  Used in older computers and still used with for example CD-Rom players - the so called non-UDMA drives.
  
  
• UDMA FLAT CABLE
  This cable is intended for highspeed use - called UDMA (Ultra Direct Memory Access). Commonly these are used for harddrives.
  
  
• ROUND IDE CABLE
  As you might have noticed, when looking inside your PC, the flatcable clutter the space inside the case. They even block proper airflow. Some folks came with the idea to make round cables for the purpose of having a better airflow (i.e. better cooling!) and a less cluttered case.

CD-ROM Installation
1. Open the case and locate an externally accessible 5-¼ inch drive bay in the system in which you
plan to install the CD-ROM drive.
2. If there is a plastic cover that covers the bay, remove it.
3. If there is a sheet-metal cover covering the front of the bay internally, remove it.
4. Change the master/slave jumper setting on drive to the appropriate setting for this installation. CDROMs
almost always have some indication on the drive itself (see figure below), as to which pair
of pins to place the plastic jumper to set it up appropriately. Most systems have 2 IDE controllers,
1 primary and 1 secondary, either of which can be used for an IDE CD-ROM. There can be only
one master and only one slave per IDE controller. So, for example if someone was to add a CDROM
to the secondary IDE controller and there was already a CD-ROM installed on that
controller that was jumpered as a master, then the new CD-ROM would need to be jumpered as a
slave.
5. Inspect the drive carefully and note which direction pin 1 is on the IDE connector of the drive.
6. Slide the CD-ROM drive into the bay from the front of the system.
7. Mount the drive in the drive bay using 4 screws, 2 on each side.
8. Find and attach a white 4-pin power supply connector to the drive.
9. Attach the 40-pin IDE cable to the CD-ROM and make sure the colored edge of the cable is in
direction of pin 1 as noted in step 5.
10. If this CD-ROM is to be used to play audio CDs, attach the audio cable from the audio out to the
sound card’s CD audio jack (most only have one—so only 1 drive can be used for audio).
11. Power on system and enter the BIOS (sometimes called setup) by using the key combination
necessary to do so on that system. Use the Auto Detect IDE function to detect all the devices on
the IDE controllers on the system. Don’t panic if the CD-ROM is not detected, some systems
don’t list them here. Save settings and exit the BIOS. While the system is booting watch carefully
to see it detect the CD-ROM—especially if the BIOS didn’t see it during the auto detection phase.
If the screen moves too quickly to read, hit the pause/break key to stop the boot sequence long
enough to read the screen. If the system detects the CD-ROM then it should be seen in Windows
95 or Windows 98.
12. When Windows has finished booting, open “My Computer” and check if the CD-ROM has been
assigned a drive letter. If so, the CD-ROM should be ready for use.