Difference between EIDE and IDE

[Dharmesh Arora]

I had installed Windows Xp on my system. I would like to know that difference between EIDE and IDE ? Can any body provide me the correct information on EIDE and IDE? Any kind of information on the above issue would be appreciated.

[Hardwareman]

Formally, IDE has been enhanced and is now called EIDE. Despite the official name "ATA", this standard is better known by the commercial term IDE (Integrated Drive Electronics) or Enhanced IDE (EIDE or E-IDE).

[Maxforu]

Some people in the hard disk industry apparently feel that the creation of "Enhanced IDE" was one of the worst things to ever happen to the IDE/ATA interface. Enhanced IDE, or EIDE for short, quickly supplanted IDE following its introduction. EIDE allows up to 4 devices to be attached to the computer.

[Killen]

If the IDE/EIDE cable is not already connected to the Interface card or Motherboard, connect that cable now. If this is the only hard disk drive it is recommended that the drive be connected to PRIMARY 0, PRI 0, PRIMARY 1 or PRI 1. The ATA standard was originally intended for connecting hard drives, however an extension called ATAPI (ATA Packet Interface) was developed in order to be able to interface other storage peripherals (CD-ROM drives, DVD-ROM drives, etc.) on an ATA interface.

Once the IDE/EIDE cable has been connected to the computer hard disk drive, connect the power cable. This cable is almost always keyed and will only go in one direction. Look at the connection on the drive itself and then the cable to connect this cable in properly.