TestOut LabSim A+ Certification Practice Exam

How many IDE devices can be attached to a system with two IDE channels and a PCI card providing four additional channels?

1. 6

2. 8

3. 10

4. 12

The correct answer is: 12

To determine the total number of IDE devices that can be attached to the system, it's essential to understand how IDE channels work. Each IDE channel on a motherboard can support two devices, generally referred to as "master" and "slave." In this scenario, there are two IDE channels directly on the motherboard. Each of these channels can connect two devices, which totals to four devices from the motherboard connections (2 channels x 2 devices per channel = 4 devices). In addition to the motherboard's channels, a PCI card is installed that provides four additional IDE channels. Similar to the motherboard channels, each of these four channels can also support two devices. Therefore, the additional devices from the PCI card would be eight devices (4 channels x 2 devices per channel = 8 devices). When you combine the devices from both the motherboard and the PCI card, you get the total number of IDE devices that can be connected: four from the motherboard and eight from the PCI card, leading to a total of twelve devices (4 + 8 = 12). This illustrates the correct answer in the context of IDE device connectivity in a computer system.