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The Definition of an IDE Hard Drive

The Definition of an IDE Hard Drive thumbnail
An IDE hard drive uses a 40-pin connector to transfer data.

An IDE hard drive is a drive that uses a Parallel ATA connection, which is informally called IDE. The term IDE stands for Integrated Drive Electronics interface. Hard drives first used the IDE interface in 1986.

  1. History

    • In 1986, Western Digital developed the first hard drive with an IDE interface. It was designed to be capable of transferring 16 megabytes per second. Over time, new advancements allowed IDE hard drives to reach speeds of up to 133 megabytes per second. The informal term IDE along with others like ATA/ATAPI all generally refer to the correct formal name Parallel ATA.

    Connector

    • IDE hard drives connect to computers or other electronic devices using a 40- or 80-pin ribbon cable. An IDE cable can have two or three connectors--one is used to interface with a computer or device, and the other one or two connectors are used for IDE drives, such as CD/DVD drives and floppy, hard or solid state disks.

    Jumpers

    • IDE hard drives employ the use of jumpers to designate the hard drive as a master or slave. This is important when using an IDE ribbon cable with two devices.

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