IDE drives are referred to as hda for the first drive, hdb for the second etc…IDE uses separate ribbon cables for primary and secondary drives. The partitions on each drive are referred numerically. The first partition on the first drive is referred to as hda1, the second as hda2, the third as hda3 etc …
Linux IDE naming conventions:
Device Description Configuration
/dev/hda 1st (Primary) IDE controller Master
/dev/hdb 1st (Primary) IDE controller Slave
/dev/hdc 2nd (Secondary) IDE controller Master
/dev/hdd 2nd (Secondary) IDE controller Slave
Note: SCSI disks are labeled /dev/sda, /dev/sdb, /dev/sdc etc… to represent the first, second, third,… SCSI hard drive devices but not the SCSI ID. SCSI hard drive partitions are represented by an additional number. i.e. First drive first partition, /dev/sda1, second partition, /dev/sda2,… Other SCSI devices such as tape backup are labeled /dev/st0 for the first, /dev/st1 for the second and so forth.