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.

EIDE supports drives up to 8.4 GB. EIDE also supports faster PIO modes 3 and 4 and multiword DMA modes 1 and 2. ATA-2 also adds additional support for LBA drives that allow support for drives larger than 528 MB.

What has replaced the EIDE cables?

Today, all computers are use SATA and no longer use EIDE.

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

  • Computer disk drive interface help and support.
  • Hard drive help and support.
  • Motherboard help and support.