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SATA stands for Serial Advanced Technology Attachment. It is a type of interface used for a computer's data storage device. It has several advantages and differences compared with standard ATA.
Standard ATA
Standard ATA is technically "PATA," where the P stands for "Parallel." Parallel and serial technologies use two different approaches to dealing with computer information.
Parallel Attachment
A parallel drive uses a wide "ribbon" cable to transfer data to the rest of the computer. This cable can connect multiple internal storage devices.
Serial Attachment
Meanwhile, only one internal storage device can connect to a SATA cable. Each drive with its own cable makes the data on that cable easier to sort out.
SATA Capacity
PATA has a maximum theoretical speed of 133 megabytes per second (MB/s), but SATA Revision 2 can transfer at 300 MB/s, and SATA Revision 3 can transfer at up to 600 MB/s.
Real-World Differences
Standard "mechanical" hard drives can't go much faster than 133 MB/s, but "solid-state" drives, which have no moving parts, can go past 300 MB/s.
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