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Configuring IDE drives can be simple, as is the case with most single-drive installations, or troublesome, especially where it comes to mixing two drives from different manufacturers and different ATA specifications on a single cable.
Most IDE drives come in three configurations:
1) Single-drive (master)
2) Master in a dual-drive system
3) Slave in a dual-drive system
Because each IDE drive has its own controller, one drive must be jumped as a master and the other as the slave. There are no functional differences between the two, except that the drive that's specified as the slave will assert the DASP signal after a system reset to inform the master that a slave drive is present in the system. Daisy-chained hard disk drives not jumped correctly will not function.
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