IDE
IDE turns up in 2 fields: electronics, telecom & it. Here is what it means to the people in each one.
IDE in electronics
An older storage interface standard where the disk controller is integrated directly into the drive.
Integrated Device Electronics is a historic standard for connecting hard drives and optical drives to computer motherboards. By moving the controller logic onto the drive itself, it simplified the host interface and reduced costs. The physical connection typically uses a wide 40-pin or 80-pin ribbon cable, passing parallel data between the host and the storage medium.
"Dig through the parts bin and see if we still have an IDE ribbon cable so I can pull the data off this ancient hard drive."
IDE in telecom & it
An older interface standard used to connect storage devices to computer motherboards.
Integrated Drive Electronics is a historic hardware interface standard for connecting hard drives and optical drives to a computer motherboard. It uses a wide, flat ribbon cable with 40 or 80 wires to transfer data in parallel. Because the controller logic is built directly into the drive itself, it simplified motherboard design before being entirely replaced by the faster serial ATA standard.
"I found an old IDE hard drive in the closet, but we don't have a motherboard with a parallel port to pull the data off it."