Bus interface for IDE device

摘要

An interface apparatus or Nest (30) fits into a peripheral slot (24) connected to an IDE bus (60) of a host computer. IDE devices, such as magnetic tape drives and hard drives, are hot swapable in and out of Nest (30) while the IDE bus is active. The Nest isolates the IDE device from the active IDE bus until such time (e.g., initialization of the IDE device) as connection of the IDE device to the IDE bus will not corrupt the IDE bus, after which time the Nest connects the IDE device to the IDE bus while the IDE bus is active. A nest driver (230) is executed for computer systems (200) which tend to establish a permanent inventory of IDE devices upon system boot-up. The nest driver determines whether a Nest is connected to the host; determines whether an IDE device has been inserted in the Nest; and determines when the IDE device in the Nest has been initialized. After device initialization, the nest driver (1) opens the Nest so that the IDE device is connected to the IDE bus and the Nest becomes transparent to the host; (2) queries the IDE device installed in the Nest to determine its device type, and thereafter (3) reenumerates a dynamic device database maintained by the operating system of the host.