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From: jdb@reef.cis.ufl.edu (Brian K. W. Hook)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.misc
Subject: Re: building a clone: good stuff vs. trash?
Keywords: clone,homebuilt,motherboard
Message-ID: <26986@uflorida.cis.ufl.EDU>
Date: 18 Feb 91 05:38:56 GMT
References: <1991Feb15.201920.13743@lynx.CS.ORST.EDU> <26973@uflorida.cis.ufl.EDU> <1991Feb17.180508.3223@bronze.ucs.indiana.edu>
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In article <1991Feb17.180508.3223@bronze.ucs.indiana.edu> ntaib@silver.ucs.indiana.edu (Nur Iskandar Taib) writes:
|>*>>I also would avoid an IDE drive, especially a Seagate. IDE drives are SLOW
|>*>>and turn out about 500-600k per second throughput - a bad idea to hook up
|>*>>such a slow drive to a fast system.
|>
|>*>I don't know where you get those statistics, but I would like to point out
|>*>that about 90% of the mail order computer companies use IDE drives because
|>*>they are fast, low cost, and reliable.  Northgate, Gateway, Zeos, Dell,
|>*>EVERYONE use IDE drives.  I get transfer rates around 800-1000k per second,
|>*>and they very inexpensive.
|>
|>Which brings up the point: what exactly is an IDE 
|>drive? I'm familiar with ST506, SCSI, ESDI, MFM
|>and RLL, but IDE is a new term for me.

IDE can mean many different things to different people.  I have heard it
mean Integrated Drive Electronics, Intelligent Drive Electronics, Integral
Drive Electronis, etc. etc.  The first is the most common, but in general
the IDE interface is a relatively new and popular drive standard.  It has
superseded both the RLL and MFM drive controllers as the controller of
choice for most computer companies.

The drives are distinguished in that the controller is PART of the drive,
much like a SCSI drive, and it requires only an adapter to get the data to
the motherboard.  Some newer motherboards ( Micronics ASICs for example)
have the IDE drive ports built in.

The drives often have 34 or 37 sectors per track, vs. 17 or 26 for MFM and
RLL, and are usually less expensive that most of the other drives out there
(about 150-300 dollars lest than comparable ESDI).  Max throughput is
usually around 800-1000k per second, and most have between a 16-256K track
buffering read ahead cache, and speeds hover around 17-20ms range (although
there are a couple of 28ms drives and 14 ms drives out there).

To sum:

Higher capacity, lower cost, MUCH lower power consumption, relatively high
speed (vs. RLL and MFM), and high efficiency.

Brian