Can I snip the unused portion of my IDE cable?

[Platypus9]

I'm pressed for space in my case, and my hard drive is connected at the middle connector, so I'm thinking I can cut it off after that point and tape over it. Electrically I can't see why it would effect anything.
cheers

[robokopp]

"Best practice" is to use a cutter designed specifically for flat cable, such as this tool, 3Mâ„¢ Flat Cable Cutter 3382:-

http://multimedia.3m.com/mws/mediawebse ... 6E666666--

Otherwise, have to take care not to short adjacent conductors, as can happen with incorrect use of regular scissors or box cutters.

[Jipa]

I cut an IDE-cable once and it didn't work ever since. Dunno why, though.

[robokopp]

I cut an IDE-cable once and it didn't work ever since. Dunno why, though.

What cutting tool did you use, and, how?

[NeilBlanchard]

Hi,

I'm not sure why you would need to cut it off? Just fold it flat behind the other part, or coil it flat and stow that out of the way. Check out the "cablegami" in systems in the gallery.

[dukla2000]

I'm pressed for space in my case, and my hard drive is connected at the middle connector, so I'm thinking I can cut it off after that point and tape over it. Electrically I can't see why it would effect anything.
cheers

No problem - just use sharp scissors. I have cut (and re-made as appropriate) plenty of IDE cables. The old 40-pin ones were a doddle, the more recent 80 wire ones take a bit more care.

The issue is that you need a clean cut so that you don't leave any ragged ends that may short against adjacent wires. No need to tape anything - highly unlikely you have anything 1 or 2 mm from the connector? Depending on your layout you may want to cut the long bit off - if you only have 1 device on the port then you can use any plug that suits you in the mobo, and any other that suits you in the device.

Of course it may go wrong - ideally let loose with a sharp instrument after you have a spare available in case things go wrong.