Editing Industry Standard Architecture (section)

=== PCMCIA ===
The [[PCMCIA]] specification can be seen as a superset of ATA.  The standard for PCMCIA hard disk interfaces, which included PCMCIA flash drives, allows for the mutual configuration of the port and the drive in an ATA mode.  As a de facto extension, most PCMCIA flash drives additionally allow for a simple ATA mode that is enabled by pulling a single pin low, so that PCMCIA hardware and firmware are unnecessary to use them as an ATA drive connected to an ATA port.  PCMCIA flash drive to ATA adapters are thus simple and inexpensive but are not guaranteed to work with any and every standard PCMCIA flash drive.  Further, such adapters cannot be used as generic PCMCIA ports, as the PCMCIA interface is much more complex than ATA.