IDE Cable won't reach second HD

Hi all,

because of the physical location of the HD bays in tower, IDE ribbon cable end connector will reach either master or secondary drives, but no matter where the master connector is connected, the slave connector will not reach the other drive. Distance between master and slave connectors on cable is about 5 inches, need about 8 to connect both master and slave. Main HD and secondary drive are at right angles to each other, but otherwise the secondary bay is directly above main HD, and both are fixed locations. Not IDE cable wise, but have not been able to find a cable where this distance between connectors on the cable is greater except cable costing three times more. CD drives are up at top of tower.

Before exploring other solutions, my question is: can I place the secondary HD, which is horizontal to the desk with tower upright, as intended, upside down? I know HD will work OK if placed on end, but will they function upside down? This would bring the slave connector within reach of the drive connector even with twisting the cable to line up the pin. What gets in the way is a metal "fin" for directing air flowl.

Long winded question, sorry.

Thanks

 

Hi and welcome to the BBS,

Yes, it will be fine.

Matt
Edit: can you secure it though?

 

Thanks, Matt, it would have worked and I would have secured it with some makeshift wedges or maybe drilled a hole for a fastener. As it turned out, the solution is mute, as I messed up something else which I will post in a new thread relative to repairing a broken power pin.