As you might realize, storage devices are key components to your computer system. Without them, you wouldn't be able to store any of your documents, your pictures, or your applications! Well, Integrated Drive Electronics, IDE, is just as important as the storage devices. This is because IDE is a special interface that lets you connect storage devices like hard disks, floppy disks, and CD-ROMs to your computer! IDEs are almost exclusively used for internal drives. Very rarely are they used to connect external storage devices to your computer.
The devices on an IDE are connected to each other by a ribbon cable. The ribbon cable is basically just a group of wires whose purpose is to connect the devices to the IDE and computer. It has three different colored connectors- one at either end of the ribbon, and another two-thirds of the way between the other two. The blue connector connects to the motherboard of the computer, the black connector connects to the master drive, and the gray connector connects to the slave drive.
This "master and slave" configuration is to allow you to connect two drivers to the IDE interface. However, only one drive can communicate with the computer at a given time. Because of this, if the slave drive wants to transfer data to the computer, it first must check with the master drive to see if the master drive is currently corresponding with the computer. If so, the slave drive must wait until the master is done, but if not, the slave drive can go ahead and transfer data to or from the computer.
Interfaces like the IDE and like SCSI
play major roles in your computer system. Without them, there would be no
way for you to add peripherals and extra storage devices to your computer!
1995-2001, ThinkQuest Inc.all rights reserved
