Master/Slave - what do they mean?

[jom]

Hi.

Can anyone tell me if the terms Master and Slave have any real meaning apart from simply distinguishing between two drives on the same IDE cahnnel (cable)?

John.

 

[ANFPS26]

http://computer.howstuffworks.com/ide4.htm

Jim

 

[jom]

Thanks Jim.

That's a very useful resource. So, they aren't equal - the master allows/disallows communication between the slave and the motherboard. If the master is communicating, it disallows the slave until he master is done.

Thanks,
John.

 

[ANFPS26]

That's true.

Jim

 

[bcastner]

Jom,

Which is one good reason for not trying to use IDE drives on the same chain in any mirrored or striped configuration. If possible you would like the ide drives on seperate channels; increasingly I have been using add-in ATA controller boards so that fast drives can have seperate channels from each other, and from CD-Rom type devices.