Converting bash code to C code

To run a bash comand within a C program, I would use

1) system ("ifconfig") or
2) f = popen ("ifconfig", "r") or
3) execlp ("bin/bash", "bash", "-c", linux_command, (char*)0);

The problem with the bash code below is they are too long to be put in a string and then execute it using one of the three method above.

How would I write the code below in C. Most critical is
1) What command to use to read (detect) from hda to hdz
2) I guess the bash command if [ -a /proc/ide/$i ] is short enough
to be used in one of the three method above.
3) As for the command hdparm -c1 -d1 -m16 /dev/$i > /dev/null
one of the three method above would do.
===========================================

#!/bin/bash

for i in hda hdb hdc hdd hde hdf hdg hdh hdi hdj hdk hdl hdm hdn hdo hdp hdq hdr hds hdt hdu hdv hdw hdx hdy hdz
do
if [ -a /proc/ide/$i ]
then
hdparm -c1 -d1 -m16 /dev/$i > /dev/null
fi
done

Something like this maybe:


Hope this helps

Actually, the above bash code is part of an executable bash file. This file is what you would/could call instead of the bash code itself.
You don't call actual bash code from inside of a C program, you call executables/programs.
Bash scripts are made executable through thier permissions, but if you try and call bash code from inside a C program you will not usually get the response back that you expect.