CompTIA A+® Certification All-In-One For Dummies®, 2nd Edition

5.2. Discovering IDE Devices

In the following sections, you find out how to install and troubleshoot IDE devices. First, you get an overview of IDE devices and some of their features, and then you see a number of different configurations for installing IDE devices into a computer system.

5.2.1. IDE overview

The hard drive controller is responsible for converting signals made by the system CPU to signals that the hard disk can understand. These signals include instructions on where to find data and how to get to that data. The hard disk performs its task, and any data that needs to be returned is sent to the controller from the hard disk. The controller then converts the signals from the hard disk into signals that the system can understand.

In the past, the controller was on an expansion card, which was connected to the drives via ribbon cables. The goal of IDE was to make the installation of hard disks easier by including the controller on the hard disk, which is where the name comes from: Integrated Drive Electronics (IDE). So, today's drives have the controllers integrated into the drives themselves, meaning the drive is its own boss.

Originally, IDE was available only in the flavor of hard drives; you did not have any other type of IDE device, such as CD-ROM or tape drives. IDE hard drives had a maximum capacity of about 528MB. Another important limitation with IDE is that only two devices could be connected in a chain. Back in the day when IDE was first used, SCSI was better ...