SATA (Serial ATA) is a computer bus interface that connects storage drives like hard disk drives, solid state drives, and optical drives to a computer’s motherboard. SATA was designed to replace the older Parallel ATA (PATA) interface, which was also sometimes called IDE. On laptops, SATA provides an interface for internal storage drives like hard drives and SSDs.
Quick Summary
- SATA is a type of bus interface used to connect storage drives to a computer’s motherboard
- It allows communication between the drive and the laptop’s CPU/RAM
- SATA was designed as a replacement for the older PATA/IDE interface
- Key advantages of SATA include faster transfer speeds, thinner cables, and hot swapping capability
- Laptops mainly use SATA for connecting internal storage drives like HDDs and SSDs
What does SATA stand for?
SATA stands for Serial Advanced Technology Attachment. It is a computer bus interface that connects storage devices like hard drives and SSDs to a computer’s motherboard. The full form and meaning of the SATA acronym is:
- Serial – It transfers data in a serial fashion, one bit at a time, rather than in parallel like the older PATA interface.
- Advanced – When introduced, it was an advanced technology compared to the parallel ATA interfaces at the time.
- Technology – SATA is a technology standard defined by the Serial ATA International Organization.
- Attachment – It describes the physical and logical means of connecting storage devices to the computer.
So in summary, SATA stands for Serial Advanced Technology Attachment. It is a serial bus interface specification for connecting storage devices like hard drives to computers.
Brief history of SATA
Here is a brief history of the SATA interface standard:
- First SATA specification finalized in 2001 by the SATA International Organization.
- Designed as a replacement for the Parallel ATA (PATA) interface, also known as IDE.
- Provided faster transfer speeds than PATA – 1.5 Gbit/s versus 133 MB/s for PATA.
- Introduced features like thin point-to-point connections, native hot swapping capability.
- SATA revision 2.0 released in 2004, increased speed to 3 Gbit/s.
- SATA revision 3.0 (SATA 6Gbps) came out in 2009, speed increased to 6 Gbit/s.
- Latest SATA spec is revision 3.4 released in 2017, which added features like queued TRIM commands.
In summary, SATA was introduced in 2001 to replace the older PATA interface. It brought major improvements in transfer speeds, cable design, and features like hot swapping. SATA has continued evolving with faster speeds and new capabilities.
Differences between SATA and PATA
There are some key differences between the older Parallel ATA (PATA) interface and the newer Serial ATA (SATA) interface:
Feature | PATA | SATA |
---|---|---|
Data transfer type | Parallel | Serial |
Cable size | Wide, flat ribbon cables | Thin cables |
Maximum speed | 133 MB/s | 1.5 to 6 Gbit/s |
Hot swapping support | Not supported | Native hot swap support |
In summary:
- PATA uses parallel data transfer while SATA uses serial transfer.
- SATA cables are much thinner than the wide PATA ribbon cables.
- SATA offers much higher maximum interface transfer rates.
- SATA natively supports hot swapping of drives, unlike PATA.
So SATA brought major improvements in transfer speeds, cable design, and connectivity features compared to the older PATA interface.
Internal SATA connections in laptops
In laptops, SATA is mainly used to connect internal storage drives like hard disk drives (HDDs) and solid state drives (SSDs) to the motherboard. Some key points:
- Laptop HDDs and SSDs are typically 2.5-inch form factor drives.
- They connect to the SATA host controller built into the laptop motherboard.
- Laptops typically have 1-2 SATA ports on the motherboard for connecting storage drives.
- Older laptops may have PATA ports, but most modern laptops use SATA ports.
- The SATA interface provides transfer speeds up to 6Gbps for connecting SSDs/HDDs.
So internal storage drives like the boot drive and secondary hard drives connect via SATA ports on the laptop motherboard. This provides fast connectivity for transferring data between the drive and the laptop’s CPU/RAM.
SATA port connectors
There are several SATA port connector types used on laptop motherboards:
- Standard SATA ports – Typically flat, L-shaped ports, up to 7 pins.
- mSATA ports – A miniaturized SATA port for connecting mSATA SSD drives.
- M.2 SATA ports – For connecting M.2 SATA SSD drives. May be used instead of mSATA.
The specific SATA connectors present depend on laptop model. Many modern ultrabooks only include M.2 SATA ports and omit standard SATA ports to save space.
External SATA connections
Although not as common on laptops, external SATA ports can be used to connect external drives. This approach involves:
- Having an external SATA port like an eSATA port on the laptop.
- Connecting an external hard drive enclosure via eSATA.
- The enclosure converts SATA to eSATA to interface with the laptop port.
However, on most laptops the Thunderbolt, USB Type-C, or USB 3.0 ports are used more often for attaching external drives rather than eSATA ports.
SATA drive performance factors
Some factors impacting SATA drive performance in a laptop include:
- Drive type – SSDs are faster than HDDs due to having no moving parts.
- SATA version – Newer SATA 3.0 (6Gbps) is faster than older SATA 2.0 (3Gbps).
- Cache size – Larger cache improves read/write performance.
- Spin speed (for HDDs) – 7200 RPM HDDs are generally faster than 5400 RPM models.
- Controller – The SATA host controller affects how fast data can be transferred.
So choosing a high speed SATA 3.0 SSD with a large cache and an optimized SATA controller gives the best performance over a slow RPM HDD on an older SATA 2.0 port, for example.
SATA 3 vs SATA 6Gbps
SATA 3 and SATA 6Gbps refer to the same SATA interface version:
- The full name is SATA revision 3.0.
- It is sometimes referred to as SATA 3 informally.
- It also may be called SATA 6Gbps referring to its max speed.
- So SATA 3 = SATA revision 3.0 = SATA 6Gbps.
- This version increased speed to 6 Gbit/s compared to SATA 2.0.
In summary, SATA 3 and SATA 6Gbps are just two names for the 3rd SATA interface version, which brought 6 Gbps transfer speeds compared to the previous SATA 2.0 specification.
SATA vs NVMe
NVMe (Non-Volatile Memory Express) is a newer SSD protocol that is replacing SATA for high speed storage:
SATA SSD | NVMe SSD | |
---|---|---|
Interface | SATA | PCIe |
Max speed | ~550 MB/s | ~3,500 MB/s |
Latency | Higher | Lower |
Parallelism | Limitied queues | Much better parallelism |
In summary:
- NVMe SSDs connect via PCIe rather than SATA.
- NVMe has up to 6-7x faster maximum theoretical speeds.
- NVMe has lower latency and higher parallelism.
- NVMe is the successor for high performance storage needs.
However, both protocols will continue to co-exist for some time, with SATA providing a more budget-friendly option.
Conclusion
In summary:
- SATA is a widely used bus interface for connecting storage drives like HDDs and SSDs to laptop motherboards.
- It allows fast communication between the drive and other laptop components.
- SATA replaced the older PATA/IDE protocol, offering major speed and design improvements.
- Laptops use SATA ports like M.2 SATA for attaching high speed SSD boot drives.
- Factors like drive type, SATA version, cache size impact SATA drive performance.
- Newer interfaces like NVMe are emerging but SATA still has an important role in laptops.
So SATA provides a robust, mature interface for internal storage that strikes a balance of speed, affordability and compatibility for connecting laptop HDDs, SSDs, and other drives.