What does an ATA-2 host adapter do?
This answer is complex because it depends on how smart your ATA-2 host adapter is. First, an ATA-2 host adapter supports the ATA-2 higher speed data transfer rates. That requires that the host adapter is attached to something other than an ISA or EISA bus. Second, an ATA-2 host adapter may perform 32-bit wide transfers on the host bus. This requires FIFO logic and data buffers in the host adapter. Third, an ATA-2 host adapter may use a different data transfer protocol on the host side than is used on the ATA device side.
