Number of EIDE Drives Per Controller

How many EIDE drives are supported per each controller? The Mike
Meyers book reads, "Almost all PCs provide two EIDE controllers. Each
controller supports up to two ATA drives, giving PCs the capability to
support up to four ATA drives."

However, the previous page of the book reads, "EIDE included powerful
new features such as higher capabilities, support for non-hard drive
storage devices, support for two more ATA devices, for a maximum of
four...." Is that referring to four on two controllers?

My confusion lies in a Total Recall guide test question that reads,
"How many devices can function on a single EIDE channel?" With the
answer being given as 4.

Is each controller a separate channel? Or do both controllers share
the same EIDE channel? If they both share the same channel, then I
understand the question, but it is worded differently than what I
studied in the Mike Meyers book.

 

Relax Jesse, you are not studying for the bar. Almost all PCs come with
two IDE channels, a primary and a secondary. Each channel can have
two drives, a master and a slave. Now do the math, 2 plus 2 equals 4.

 

Thanks David. I realized 2 + 2 = 4 Again, what threw me off track
was the question I ran into that asked, "How many devices can function
on a single EIDE channel?" With the answer being given as 4. If
there are two EIDE channels per computer, and a single EIDE channel
can support 4 EIDE drives, then that means a PC could have 8 hard
drives, 4 + 4 = 8

I don't believe that, and think it is just a poorly worded question,
one of many I have found in the Total Recall sutdy material.

 

For the question that you stated, the answer must be 2!
Dan.

 

I concur, and I picked 2. But the guide says the right answer is
four. I think the key to the answer is the term "EIDE channel". I
wasn't familiar with that term, and assumed "channel" meant
"controller".

 

Here is another question about "IDE channels" that I ran into:

"Which of the following hard drive specifications are held in CMOS?

A. Bay Location
B. Access Speed
C. Size (heads, sectors, cylinders)
D. IDE Channel (master, slave)
E. File system format."

The correct answer being listed as C & D.

I don't dispute the answer. However, we see evidence here that they
are using the term "IDE Channel" interchangebly with "controller."
So, in their previous question they indicated that each "channel"
could control 4 hard drives. Here they seem to imply that "master" &
"slave" are separate channels. So if each "channel" can control 4
drives, then it would then equate to a PC can have 8 hard drives.
Again, I know this is wrong, just pointing out the fallacy.