Question

Which of the following is either slave or master and can you please define each one!

IDE-

SCSI-

SATA

ST-506

Answer 1

Firstly lets understand what are these 4 Interfaces i.e IDE,SCSI,SATA,ST-506 :--

1- Integrated Drive Electronics, IDE is more commonly known as ATA or PATA (parallel ATA). It is a standard interface for IBM computers that was first developed by Western Digital and Compaq in 1986 for compatible hard drives and CD or DVD drives. IDE is different than Small Computer System Interface (SCSI)  because its controllers are on each drive, meaning that  drive can connect directly to motherboard or controller and Each IDE channel can support two drives. one IDE ribbon cable has three connection. One connect to motherboard and other two connections are available for two drives.IDE grew out of the ST506 and ESDI standards in the 1980s.

DE drives are slower because they did not have big cache like SCSI drives, and they could not write directly to RAM

2-- Small Computer System Interface (SCSI) --- It ia s high performance parallel peripheral interface that can independently distribute data among peripherals attached to the PC. Unlike PATA, SCSI incorporates those instructions needed for communication with the host PC. Freeing the host computer from this job makes it more efficient in performing its user-oriented activities. SCSI drives are usually more suitable for high-end computer systems, which require maximum possible performance. SCSI provides for high data transfer rates and less CPU load than PATA . it can connect a wide range of other devices, including scanners and CD drives, although not all controllers can handle all devices. So SCSI is popular on high-performance workstations, servers, and storage appliances. Almost all RAID subsystems on servers have used some kind of SCSI hard disk drives .

Serial ATA (SATA) i.e Serial Advanced Technology Attachment-->

Benits of SATA OVER PATA --> It is an interface used to connect ATA hard drives to a computer's motherboard. SATA transfer rates start at 150MBps, which is significantly faster than even the fastest 100MBps ATA/100 drives.and where  SATA cables can be as long as one meter, while PATA cables max out at 40cm. the main diffrence is that where Serial ATA uses only 7 conductors, while Parallel ATA uses 40.which means there is less electromagnetic interference with SATA devices.

• Lower pin count • Higher performance • Simple drive configuration • Better cables/connectors • Greater reliability • Low voltage support • Migration to more server implementations .

For these reasons Serial ATA is likely to replace the previous standard, Parallel ATA (PATA), which has been around since the 1980s.

4-ST-506--> IN ST-506 interface, the drive connects to a controller card with two ribbon cables carrying signals, while a third cable provides power.  The ST-506/412 disc drive is a random access storage device utilizing two non-removable 5% inch discs as storage media. Each disc surface employs one movable head to service 153/306 data tracks. The total formatted capacity of the four heads and surfaces is 5/10 megabytes (32 sectors per track, 256 bytes per sector, 612/1224 tracks).
A second port in the filter assembly allows pressure equalization with ambient air without chance of contamination. A patented spindle pump assures adequate air flow and uniform temperature distribution throughout head and disc area. SO BY ST-506 ST-506 it is possible for personal computer manufacturers to easily offer upgrades in storage capacity and access time.The ST-506 disk drive lacked buffered seek capability and averaged a seek time of only 170 ms,

it was an old standard interface for connecting hard disk drives to PCs.

SO NOW LETs KNOW ABOUT MASTER AND SLAVE --->

A single IDE interface can support two devices. Most of the motherboards come with dual IDE interfaces (primary and secondary) for up to four IDE devices. Because the controller is integrated with the drive.

To allow for two drives on the same cable, IDE uses a special configuration called master and slave. This configuration allows one drive's controller to tell the other drive when it can transfer data to or from the computer. When a  slave drive makes request to master drive, which checks to see if it is currently communicating with computer. If master drive is idle, it tells slave drive to go ahead. If master drive is communicating with the computer, it tells slave drive to wait and then informs it when it can go ahead.

computer determines if there is a (slave) drive attached through use of Pin on connector. and that Pin carries a special signal, called Drive Active/Slave Present (DASP), that checks to see if a slave drive is present.

Many drives feature an option called Cable Select (CS). With the correct type of IDE ribbon cable, these drives can be auto configured as master or slave. lets know how   CS works : A jumper on each drive is set to CS option. The cable itself is just like a normal IDE cable except for one difference -- that Pin only connects to the master drive connector. When your computer is powered up, the IDE interface sends a signal along the wire for Pin . Only the drive attached to the master connector receives the signal.

ATA's cables have had 40 wires for most of its history (44 conductors for the smaller form-factor version used for 2.5" drives—the extra four for power) IDE subsystem allows 20 disks (10 controllers each with 1 master and 1 slave) which can have up to 63 partitions each.The primary drive (drive 0) is called the master, and the secondary drive (drive 1) is called the slave. containing CABLE SELECT AND Drive Active/Slave Present (DASP) with three differently colored connectors (blue, black, and gray for controller, master drive, and slave drive respectively) as opposed to uniformly colored 40-wire cable's connectors (commonly all gray).

There is no "masters" and "slaves" in SCSI. All devices on a bus are assigned an ID.

SATA is a point to point connection, not a bus connection , so ATA's master and slave strapping disappears. sATA cabling is less bulky and the form factor of its plugs and sockets are smaller than parallel ATA (and the SCSI Parallel interface).

Unlike older IDE drives, SATA disks have no jumpers and it's not necessary to configure a master/slave relationship between the

now the PC industry has not used ATA master/slave terminology from many years.

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