A system and method are disclosed for automatically and correctly configuring IDE bus devices to be either master or slave devices regardless of the devices' location on an IDE cable. A modified IDE cable is described for causing an IDE device set to cable select mode to automatically configure itself appropriately as either a master or a slave device. The modified cable includes means for setting the cable select value to a master value when the IDE device is coupled to the cable's middle connector, for setting the cable select value to a slave value when the IDE device is coupled to the cable's end connector while a second IDE device is coupled to the middle connector, and for setting the cable select value to a master value when the IDE device is coupled to the end connector while no device is coupled to the middle connector.