Concept in Definition ABC

To the beginning, in the world of computing, there were different ways of doing things, and this was inconvenient for device manufacturers. For this reason, various standards were born, including IDE connectivity.

The IDE standard (Integrated Drive Electronics) allows connection between storage drives (hard drives, CD / DVD players) to the computer motherboard.

Although its original name is IDE, it was later known as PATA (Parallel AT Attachment). The definition of the standard includes the physical rules of connection such as voltages, speeds and physical shapes of connectors.

Visually, we can differentiate two versions of IDE connection: the one intended for desktop computers (larger), and the one intended for use on laptops (smaller).

The first, the largest, has two 20-pin strings (the top line is missing the number ten counting from the left, to allow whoever mounts the disk to locate it correctly), while in the case of the IDE for laptops, we have two 22-pin lines in a more concentrated space, with one pin missing but on the bottom line, to be able to direct well the connector.

In the motherboard a controller is required to manage data traffic with IDE devices.

A bus IDE allows the connection of up to four devices divided into two groups: primary and secondary. In each of these, one of the devices takes the role of "master" (master), while another takes that of "slave" (slave). If we connect a single device, it must be as a master, while if there is one configured as a slave, we must necessarily have a master.

This ordering will help the motherboard to know who to send the data to, but it has practical repercussions. in some cases, such as when booting operating systems, which will only be possible from disks configured as master.

The configuration of the disks as masters or slaves is done by means of a few jumpers located next to the IDE connector.

The velocity maximum allowed by this standard is 167 MB / s.

The creation of the IDE standard comes from a collaboration between Western Digital and Compaq.

The result was so successful that the form of connectivity soon interested the rest of PC computer manufacturers, to the point of integrating in such a way in these that ended up being considered the connectivity standard for said type of computers, to the detriment of other forms of connectivity of units of storage.

The birth of IDE dates back to 1986 and, since then, it has had other rivals that have failed to prevail, such as SCSI.

The IDE interface has evolved into the SATA form, which outpaces the IDE in size, speed and flexibility.

One of the advantages of SATA connectors is that they are the same size on both laptop and desktop drives.

Although this does not allow us - for obvious reasons of the size of the Unit disk- install a desktop hard drive in a computer laptop, it does allow us to install a laptop disk or a portable size SSD drive in a desktop computer.

The speed provided by SATA reaches up to 600 MB / s, a breakthrough important with respect to the 167 of the IDE.

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Themes in IDE