MagicSpin Installation Guide
Page 8
Enhanced IDE Interface
Enhanced IDE, also called EIDE, is the term that Western Digital uses to describe its advanced
drives that incorporate the performance improvements defined in ATA-2, along with several
other refined protocols. EIDE has become a widely accepted term in the industry. The Enhanced
IDE interface adds several important speed improvements as well as ATAPI support required to
use your CD-ROM drive. Below is a list of the important improvements that EIDE adds:
•
ATA-2:
EIDE includes all of the improvements that are part of ATA-2, including the
higher-speed transfer modes
•
ATAPI:
EIDE includes support for non-hard-disk devices on the IDE/ATA channel.
•
Dual IDE/ATA Host Adapters:
The EIDE standard includes support for dual IDE/ATA
host adapters, allowing four IDE/ATA/ATAPI devices to be used.