Glossary

IDE - (Integrated Drive Electronics)

IDE, or Integrated Drive Electronics, is an older interface standard for the attachment of storage devices used in personal computers, most notably for hard drives and CD-ROM/DVD-ROM devices. It was one of the first technologies to incorporate the drive controller on the drive itself as opposed to locating it on the motherboard or on a separate part. The IDE standard is no longer in use, but the technology that evolved from it, Parallel ATA, is still referred to informally as IDE. PATA is gradually being phased out of use in preference for the Serial ATA standard, and most modern hard drives use the SATA interface instead of the PATA interface.

last modified: February 02, 2011