SATA

SATA (Serial AT Attachment) is a computer bus interface announced in 2000 that connects host bus adapters to mass storage devices such as hard disk drives, optical drives, and solid-state drives. Revision 1.0 of the specification was released in January 2003. Serial ATA succeeded the earlier Parallel ATA (PATA) standard to become the predominant interface for storage devices.

Its advantages over the earlier PATA interface include reduced cable size and cost (seven conductors instead of 40 or 80), native hot swapping, faster data transfer through higher signaling rates, and more efficient transfer through an (optional) I/O queuing protocol.

Serial ATA industry compatibility specifications originate from the Serial ATA International Organization (SATA-IO) which are then released by the INCITS Technical Committee T13, AT Attachment (INCITS T13).