What do you call the place on a hard drive (or motherboard, or anywhere else) to place jumpers?

Most hard drives have a set of pins next to the pata or sata port to place jumpers to do things such as designating it a slave or master. What is the name of those set of other pins? Hard drives are a common place to see them, but they also appear on motherboards, and even other consumer electronics, such as a television set or television remote. I've always just called them "the pins where you put the jumpers." Do they have a proper name?

EDIT: I realize that they are physically the same as a header, but since a header is used to attach a new component, I would not consider it to be a header since jumpers are not a new component being attached.

chiliNUT

Posted 2014-11-24T04:04:18.430

Reputation: 610

I have seen these called "option pins" before, though that may be slightly more specific that what you are aiming for as it only really applies to pinstraps. – Vality – 2014-11-24T13:27:36.833

1I call it "the place where you put the jumpers". (I don't think there's a formal term -- some will say "header", some "jumper block", some will use some other term.) – Daniel R Hicks – 2014-11-24T22:42:37.263

Why is a jumper not a component? – localhost – 2014-11-25T05:29:15.410

Answers

While they are the same physical part as a header, generally with PCs 'headers' are pins you attach leads to. Say, the HDD LED or the Power Switch leads.

Pins specific to jumpers are refered to as "Jumper Pins" and are arranged into "Jumper Blocks".

Ƭᴇcʜιᴇ007

Posted 2014-11-24T04:04:18.430

Reputation: 103 763

I've also seen the collection of pins referred to as a shorting block or shunt block when the jumpers are used to make selections by shorting specific pairs of pins. A more general term that also covers formats other than pins is terminal block. – fixer1234 – 2014-11-24T18:57:57.830

They're just called "headers".

David Schwartz

Posted 2014-11-24T04:04:18.430

Reputation: 58 310

Headers seem more like something you would plug something into, like a usb header. – chiliNUT – 2014-11-24T07:13:58.000

4@chiliNUT They are precisely the same. Look closely at them. – David Schwartz – 2014-11-24T07:54:27.847

2Physically they are the same, but their functions are different enough that I would not consider them to be the same thing. – chiliNUT – 2014-11-24T15:12:15.170

@chiliNUT the thing you are plugging in is the jumper. So it is connecting a jumper to the hard drive. I don't see that as being much different to connecting another more complicated device to the drive. – localhost – 2014-11-25T05:25:23.393

Its not another device. Its modifying the configuration of something already connected, its not something new – chiliNUT – 2014-11-25T05:36:32.560

I've heard them called "jumper headers". They're headers that you plug jumpers into, instead of plugging in a cable or some other component. – Jamie Hanrahan – 2014-11-25T06:32:08.670

I'd probably call them "connectors".

But I wouldn't stress too much about the semantics, I have heard IT professionals use every one of these terms at some time or another.

localhost

Posted 2014-11-24T04:04:18.430

Reputation: 502