and why it is is used. ?
2006-12-11 03:25:59 · 7 answers · asked by karthik r 1 in Computers & Internet ➔ Hardware ➔ Add-ons
IDE (Integrated Drive Electronics) is a standard method of communicating with CD/DVD drives and Hard Disks (among other things).
They are supplied in two "channel" or connectors. Each connector has a cable attached with two additional connectors on it. Those connectors are fastened to CD/DVD drives are hard disks at a maximum of two.
In order for a computer to talk to two devices on a single cable it regards one as the Master and one as the Slave. The one set to Master only listens to messages marked for Master, and the one as Slave only listens to messages marked for Slave.
This is a basic configuration of your computer. Always have a Master and a Slave on a cable, never two of one type.
Drives are configured for Master or Slave using what's called a Jumper, usually on the end of the drive.
2006-12-11 03:29:52 · answer #1 · answered by Kyle S 3 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Each built in IDE channel on your computer can support two drives. The first IDE channel is primary; the second is secondary. Since IDE cables have two connectors that pass the data to both drives, there is a need to distinguish which signals are intended for which target drive. There are two ways of doing this. The way you are describing is to designate one drive as master, by setting jumpers on the drive, and the other one as slave again by setting jumpers. In general, the primary master is the boot drive (but it can be changed under certain circumstances). Also, it is advisable to attach the master drive to the end of the cable and the slave to the secondary connector in the middle. The other method is cable select where the position on the cable determines which drive is master and slave. In recently built computers, the drives all operate independently and the master drive can be missing and the slave will still work. In older computers it was essential to have the first master drive on the correct connector.
2006-12-11 11:36:03 · answer #2 · answered by the documentary guy 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
If you look at your motherboard, you will find two slots to connect hard drives (plus CD Drives, and some other drives). One of these two slots is considered to be the Primary IDE, and the other one is considered to be the Secondary IDE.
Each of these slots can connect (with a data cable) up to 2 Drives, One is considered to be "Master", and the other is considered "Slave".
The Primary / Secondary choice is built-in into the motherboard, but the Master/Slave choice is yours, you can make a drive to be Master or Slave from the Jumbers (Pins and connectors located on the drive), or you can set it to "Cable Select", so that the cable decides the master/slave combination (in this case, the drive connected to the middle of the cable is the master drive).
The Master / Slave combination is very important for many reasons, one of them is that if you set the two drives on the same cable to Master (or similarly, to slave), The motherboard will not be able to see any of them. One more important issue to consider is the Booting Sequence.
Enjoy ;)
2006-12-11 12:07:12 · answer #3 · answered by Ahmad Nasser 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
It's a reference to IDE Hard Drive setup. It's not important nowadays, but you do need to pay attention to device settings when using IDE ports. Each IDE channel (meaning each ribbon cable) can have one master and one slave on the channel. The two channels available are called primary and secondary, where primary is usually the one labeled IDE1 on your motherboard and Secondary being IDE2. Of course, if you have more than two IDE channels in your PC, then the primary is IDE1, and all other IDE channels are considered Secondary IDE channels. You set the Master/Slave designation for each device by using jumpers on the device itself near where the ribbon cable connects to the device (such as a hard drive or CD-Rom). Again, it's not so important with newer OS's, since most new OS's allow you to select any drive to essentially act as the master drive (the one which contains your actual operating system).
2006-12-11 11:33:41 · answer #4 · answered by WolfpacKmars2 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Computers that use IDE Hard drives can have up to 2 drives per cable. To let the computer tell the difference, one is designated Master and the other slave. Since there are 2 cables in most IDE systems, One cable is designated Primary and the other secondary.
2006-12-11 11:27:57 · answer #5 · answered by John L 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Ont he motherboard you have 2 IDE slots (wide ribbon-like cables) The first one is usually called primary and the second one of course secondary. These are used to plug in various types of drives (hard drives, cdrom drives...etc.)Each IDE cable needs to have one and only one master on it, and if you are plugging in a second drive, you will need to make it a slave.
In my computer, for example, I have 2 hard drives, a cd-rw drive drive and a DVD rom drive. I have 2 ide slots, what i did is plug in my largest (and fastest hard drive into the primary IDE slot and made it master. I plugged my other hard drive into the same IDE cable and made it slave. I plugged my cdRW drive into my secondary IDE cable and made it master. I plugged the dvd drive into the secondary DIE cable and made it slave.
Hope this helps
2006-12-11 11:35:56 · answer #6 · answered by vandalv 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
It refers to your IDE drives. (hardrive,CD ROM and all that).
Each IDE port can support 2 drives, hence the term master and slave drives
2006-12-11 11:30:12 · answer #7 · answered by sorce 3 · 1⤊ 1⤋