[Term of the Day]: SATA
Term of the Day
"Serial Advanced Technology Attachment"
What does SATA mean?
Serial ATA is a standard that determines how data is transferred between a computer's motherboard and mass storage devices such as hard disk drives (HDDs), optical drives and solid-state drives (SSDs).
SATA is the successor of PATA (Parallel ATA) as the IDE standard of choice for connecting storage devices inside of a computer. Compared to PATA storage devices, SATA storage devices can transmit data to and from the rest of the computer much, much faster. For example, 133 MBps is the fastest transfer speed possible with PATA devices, whereas SATA supports speeds of around 600 MBps.
Besides faster transfer rates, the SATA interface has several other advantages over the PATA interface. SATA is much flatter, smaller and thinner than the fat PATA ribbon cables. SATA cables can be as long as one meter, while PATA cables max out at 40cm. Thus they're easier to manage because they don't take up as much space and can be tied up more easily if need be. The thinner design also gives manufacturers more liberty when designing the internal layout of their computers.
Also, SATA has the ability to hot-swap devices, meaning, the devices can be replaced without turning off the entire system. Whereas, with PATA devices, you have to shut off the computer before replacing the hard drive.