Editing Parallel ATA (section)

=== Compact Flash ===
[[File:Compact Flash is just a miniature IDE-ATA interface.jpg|thumb|Compact flash is a miniature ATA interface, modified to be able to supply power.]]

[[Compact Flash#Technical details|Compact Flash]] (CF) in its ''IDE mode'' is essentially a miniaturized ATA interface, intended for use on devices that use flash memory storage. No interfacing chips or circuitry are required, other than to directly adapt the smaller CF socket onto the larger ATA connector. (Although most CF cards only support IDE mode up to PIO4, making them much slower in IDE mode than their CF capable speed<ref>{{cite web |url=http://support.fccps.cz/download/adv/frr/cf.html |title=CompactFlash cards and DMA/UDMA support in True IDE (tm) mode |first=Frank |last=Rysanek |publisher=FCC PS |location=Czechoslovakia |access-date=2019-06-17}}</ref>)

The ATA connector specification does not include pins for supplying power to a CF device, so power is inserted into the connector from a separate source. The exception to this is when the CF device is connected to a 44-pin ATA bus designed for 2.5-inch hard disk drives, commonly found in notebook computers, as this bus implementation must provide power to a standard hard disk drive.

CF devices can be designated as devices 0 or 1 on an ATA interface, though since most CF devices offer only a single socket, it is not necessary to offer this selection to end users. Although CF can be [[hot-pluggable]] with additional design methods, by default when wired directly to an ATA interface, it is not intended to be hot-pluggable.