SATA

Short for SerialATA, SATA 1.0 was first released in August 2001 and is a replacement for the Parallel ATA interface used in IBM compatible computers. SerialATA is capable of delivering 1.5Gbps (150MBps) of performance to each drive within a disk array, offers backwards compatibility for existing ATA and ATAPI devices, and offers a thin, small cable solution as seen in the picture to the right. This cable helps make a much easier cable routing and offers better airflow in the computer when compared to the earlier ribbon cables used with ATA drives.

In addition to being an internal solution SATA also supports external drives throughExternal SATA more commonly known as eSATA. eSATA offers many more advantages when compared to other solutions. For example, it is hot-swappable, supports faster transfer speeds and no bottleneck issues when compared with other popular external solutions such as USB and Firewire, and supports disk drive technologies such as S.M.A.R.T..

Unfortunately, however, eSATA does have some disadvantages such as not distributing power through the cable like USB, which means drives will require an external power source and it only supports a maximum cable lengths of up to 2m. Because of these disadvantages don't plan on eSATA becoming the only external solution for computers.