Chapter 7. The ATA/IDE Interface
An Overview of the IDE Interface
The interface used to connect hard disk and optical drives to a modern PC is typically called IDE (Integrated Drive Electronics); however, I always like to point out that the true name of this interface is ATA (AT Attachment). The ATA designation refers to the fact that this interface was originally designed to connect a combined drive and controller directly to the 16-bit bus found in the 1984 vintage IBM AT (Advanced Technology) and compatible computers. The AT bus is otherwise known as the ISA (Industry Standard Architecture) bus. Although ATA is the official name of the interface, IDE is a marketing term originated by some of the drive manufacturers to describe the drive/controller ...
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