Serial Advanced Technology Attachment storage
(SATA, Serial ATA) A computer bus technology primarily designed for transfer of data to and from a hard disk. SATA is the successor to Advanced Technology Attachment (ATA), which was given the retronym Parallel ATA (PATA) to distinguish it from Serial ATA.
Serial ATA is designed to be scalable. The original SATA/150 or "SATA 1" can transfer up to 150 MBps and "SATA 3.0 Gbit/s" has a maximum data rate of 300 MBps.
Both SATA and PATA drives have built-in low level control electronics but the term IDE is usually restricted to parallel ATA drives.
(http://www.serialata.org/).
(2007-02-23)