SATAliitäntä

SATAliitäntä, short for Serial Advanced Technology Attachment, is a standard interface for connecting storage devices like hard drives and solid-state drives to a computer's motherboard. It replaced the older Parallel ATA (PATA) interface, offering several advantages including faster data transfer speeds, thinner and more flexible cables, and improved error correction.

The SATA interface uses a serial communication method, transmitting data one bit at a time. This allows for higher clock speeds and thus greater bandwidth compared to the parallel transmission of PATA. The SATA cable typically consists of two connectors: one for data transfer and another for power. These connectors are designed to be keyed, meaning they can only be plugged in one way, preventing incorrect connections.

There have been several generations of SATA, each offering increased performance. SATA I, the first generation, provided a maximum transfer rate of 1.5 Gb/s. SATA II doubled this to 3 Gb/s, and SATA III, the most common standard today, offers a theoretical maximum of 6 Gb/s. These speeds are crucial for modern computing, especially for loading operating systems and applications quickly from SSDs.

SATA remains a widely used standard for internal storage devices in both desktop and laptop computers. While newer interfaces like NVMe have emerged for high-performance SSDs, SATA continues to be a cost-effective and reliable solution for many storage needs.