SATA (Serial AT Attachment) is a computer bus interface that connects host bus adapters to mass storage devices such as hard disk drives, optical drives, and solid-state drives. Serial ATA succeeded the earlier See more

Hot plug
The Serial ATA spec requires SATA devices be capable of hot plugging; that is, devices that meet the specification are capable of insertion or removal of a device into or from a backplane connector (combined signal … See more

Connectors and cables present the most visible differences between SATA and parallel ATA drives. Unlike PATA, the same connectors are used on 3.5-inch SATA hard disks (for desktop and server computers) and 2.5-inch disks (for portable or small computers). See more

SATA and PATA
At the hardware interface level, SATA and PATA (Parallel AT Attachment) devices are completely incompatible: they cannot be interconnected … See more

SATA was announced in 2000 in order to provide several advantages over the earlier PATA interface such as reduced cable size and cost (seven conductors instead of 40 or 80), … See more

SATA revisions are typically designated with a dash followed by Roman numerals, e.g. "SATA-III", to avoid confusion with the speed, which is … See more

SATA uses a point-to-point architecture. The physical connection between a controller and a storage device is not shared among other controllers and storage devices. SATA defines multipliers, which allows a single SATA controller port to drive up to fifteen … See more