User's Manual

Basics Data Buses - 15
Configuring or Connecting Master/Slave Devices
Each IDE channel can support either one or two devices. All
Power Macintosh G3's have two ATA/IDe channels. ATA/IDE
devices each contain their own integrated controllers, and so
in order to maintain order on the channel, it is necessary to
have some way of differentiating between the two devices.
This is done by giving each device a designation as either
master or slave, and then having the controller address
commands and data to either one or the other. The drive that
is the target of the command responds to it, and the other one
remains silent.
Note: Despite the hierarchical-sounding names of "master"
and "slave", the master drive does not have any special
status compared to the slave one; they are really equals in
most respects. The slave drive doesn't rely on the master
drive or anything like that, despite the names.