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IDE

(1) (Integrated Development Environment) A set of programs run from a single user interface. For example, programming languages often include a text editor, compiler and debugger, which are all...

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Definition: IDE

(1) (Integrated Development Environment) A set of programs run from a single user interface. For example, programming languages often include a text editor, compiler and debugger, which are all activated and function from a common IDE menu.

(2) (Integrated Drive Electronics) The previous, standard hardware interface for hard drives and CD/DVD drives in a computer. Introduced in 1986 with 20 megabytes of storage, IDE capacities increased to two terabytes by 2010. IDE drives replaced SCSI drives, which were the premium drives used in servers (see SCSI), and IDE was superseded by Serial ATA (see SATA).

IDE/ATA Means Built-In Electronics
The primary feature of IDE/ATA drives is the controller built into the drive, requiring a simple circuit on the computer's motherboard for connection. IDE motherboards have two sockets, each connecting two drives via a 40-pin ribbon cable for optical discs and 80 pins for hard disks.

Master and Slave
Since two IDE drives share the same cable, IDE drives are configured as master and slave to avoid conflicts when both drives send signals at the same time. Jumper pins on the drive are used to set the first drive as master and the second, if present, as a slave. This master/slave setup went away with Serial ATA (SATA).

ATAPI (ATA Packet Interface)
ATAPI is the IDE interface for CD, DVD and other removable drives. It enables SCSI commands embedded in packets to support functions required by removable drives such as detecting whether the media is loaded and ejecting it.

Myriad Names Over the Years
No hard drive interface has had so many names. IDE is officially an AT Attachment (ATA) interface; the "AT" coming from IBM's PC/AT personal computer, which popularized it. When Enhanced IDE (EIDE) drives were later introduced, people continued to use IDE as the designation, or they would call them "ATA drives" and sometimes "IDE/ATA" or "EIDE/ATA drives." After Serial ATA (SATA) was introduced in 2002, IDE took on the new moniker of Parallel ATA (PATA). Therefore, PATA, ATA, EIDE and IDE are synonymous.

Not enough names? From time to time, EIDE was also called "Fast ATA," and a 100 MB/sec drive went by "ATA-100," "Ultra ATA-100," "DMA-100" or "Ultra DMA-100." Following are PATA/SATA specifications. See Cable Select, SMART HDD, hard disk interfaces and SATA.

         Programmed   Direct Memory
         I/O Mode     Access Mode   #
                                    of
 PATA    PIO  MB/sec  DMA  MB/sec  Pins
 ATA       0   3.3     0   4.2     40
 ATA       1   5.2                 40
 ATA       2   8.3                 40
 PATA (Enhanced IDE - EIDE)
 ATA-2/3   3  11.1     1   13.3    40
 ATA-2/3   4  16.6     2   16.6    40
 ATA-4 (ATA-33)        2   33.3    40
 ATA-5                 0   16.6    40
 ATA-5                 1   25.0    40
 ATA-5 (ATA-33)        2   33.3    40
 ATA-5                 3   44.4    80**
 ATA-5 (ATA-66)        4   66.6    80**
 ATA-6 (ATA-100)       5  100.0    80**
 ATA-7 (ATA-133)       5  133.0    80**
 SATA (Serial ATA)  See SATA.
 SATA                  5  1500.0    4
 SATA II               5  3000.0    4
 SATA III              5  6000.0    4
 ** 80-pin cables added 40 ground wires
    and fit into 40-pin socket with
    one pin removed



IDE

Internal IDE Cables
The dramatic difference in cable size is an added benefit of SATA. The earlier PATA cables took up a lot more room inside the case.



IDE

Fault Tolerant IDE Drives
Arco was the first to provide RAID 1 mirroring with IDE drives rather than SCSI. The cable from the motherboard plugged into this drive bay card, and cables went out to primary and secondary drives (see RAID). (Image courtesy of Arco Computer Products, Inc., www.arcoide.com)





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