SATA (Serial Advanced Technology Attachment, Serial—ATA) is one of the many computer bus interfaces used to connect to a hardware bus, hard drive, CD/DVD reader, solid—state SSD drives and other devices.
The SATA interface was developed back in 2003 as a replacement for ATA (IDE). At the same time, SATA-IO (Sata International Organization) was formed. It is she who is engaged in improving, providing support and releasing new versions of SATA (for example, SAS).
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SATA versions
Let’s look at the main versions of SATA: 1.x, 2.x 3.0 and e-SATA.
1.x
The very first interface solution operating at 1.5 gigahertz frequency and providing a maximum data transfer rate of 1.5 Gbit/sec. Approximately 20% of it is used by the 8b10b encoding system, in which for every 10 bits there are 2 more bits of service data.
In total, SATA 1.x provides a bandwidth of 1.2 Gbit/s (150 Mb/s), which is much faster than in the fastest PATA/133, but not as efficient in terms of performance as in AHCI mode with NCQ support.
2.x
In this revision, SATA managed to increase the frequency of operation to 3 Ghz, which allowed for a wider bandwidth of 3 Gbit/s. The effective data transfer rate was 2.4 Gbit/s, which is almost 2 times higher than in the first revision. At the same time, the SATA 2.x revision is fully compatible with revision 1.x. This also applies to cables for connecting the interface to the working machine.
3.0
The third revision was submitted by the company in 2008. SATA 3.0 can provide a bandwidth of 6 Gbps. The full launch of the technology took place in 2009. The effective interface speed was 600 Mb/sec, and the operating frequency increased to 6 Ghz.
SATA 3.0 also maintained full compatibility with previous revisions both in the way information is transmitted and in terms of cables. Only the power management system has been upgraded.
The main area where it is necessary to provide a bandwidth of 6 Gbit/s is SSD solid—state drives. Machines with hard drives do not need this data transfer rate.
e-SATA
One of the variations of the SATA interface, the speed of which is higher than in IEEE 1394 and USB 2.0. If we compare e-SATA with previous revisions, the first one received such changes:
- shielded connectors provide multiple disconnection/connection to the working machine;
- loss compensation was revised, and as a result, it became possible to use two-meter-long cables;
- Two separate cables are used — one for power supply and the second for data transmission.
e-SATAp
This is a more advanced e-SATA connector that does not need an additional power cable. That is, the e-SATAp is a universal portable interface with a USB 3.0 output. But this solution turned out to be unclaimed due to the simplified implementation of the USB interface itself.