EIDE

Updated: 09/12/2023 by Computer Hope

Alternatively called ATA-2, Fast ATA, Fast IDE, or parallel ATA, EIDE (enhanced IDE) is an improvement over the IDE (integrated drive electronics) storage device interface standard. It was developed by Western Digital and an interface used on IBM compatible computers. EIDE supports data rates from 4 and 16.6 MBps. Below, is a picture of the hard drive IDE connector and an IDE cable that connects the drive to the motherboard.

Jumpers on back of IDE hard disk drive

IDE cable

IDE / ATA channel

EIDE supports drives up to 8.4 GB. EIDE also supports faster PIO (programmed input/output) modes 3 and 4 and multiword DMA (direct memory access) modes 1 and 2. ATA-2 (Advanced Technology Attachment) also adds additional support for LBA (large block addressing) drives that allow support for drives larger than 528 MB.

What has replaced the EIDE cables?

Today, all computers are use SATA (Serial AT Attachment) and no longer use EIDE (enhanced integrated drive electronics).

Computer acronyms, Hard drive terms, Hardware terms, Motherboard terms