Serial ATA is the next-generation internal storage protocol, designed to replace parallel ATA technology. The Serial ATA-1 standard supports up to 150MBytes/sec, with a roadmap already planned for 300MBytes/sec and as high as 600MBytes/sec for the next stage.

The key benefits of Serial ATA are: Increased reliability due to the elimination of cross-talk, hot-swap support, point-to-point usage.

Especially for engineers struggling with BIOS settings and configuring master/slave and primary/secondary, this last advantage is a welcome change.

INTERFACE	IDE (Parallel ATA) SATA-II	ATA-7 SATA-I
APPLICATIONS	Enterprise Computing Communications/Networking Automotive Embedded/Industrial Military/Aerospace Medical Equipment Casino Gaming Professional Media	Enterprise Computing Communications/Networking Automotive Embedded/Industrial Military/Aerospace Medical Equipment Casino Gaming Professional Media
TECHNOLOGY	SSD Performance Advanced Flash Management Total Drive Protection Flash Life Support Flash Memory Controller Power Down Recovery SSD Testing IC Tower® TSOP Stacking	Advanced Flash Management Total Drive Protection Flash Life Support Flash Memory Controller Power Down Recovery
FORM FACTOR	2.5" 1.8"	1" SSD (HDD Replacement)
READ/WRITE PERFORMANCE MB/S IOPS	100/100 Up to 10,000/Up to 1,500	90/55
POWER CONSUMPTION SLEEP/IDLE MODE OPERATING MODE	500mW 2.1W	50mA (max) 210mA (max)
CAPACITY	Up to 256GB	MLC — Up to 326GB SLC — Up to 16GB
	VIEW MACH8 SSD	VIEW MACH4 SSD

INTERFACE	SATA	SATA
APPLICATIONS	Embedded/Industrial Ultra Mobile PCs	Embedded/Industrial
TECHNOLOGY	Advanced Flash Management Total Drive Protection Flash Memory Controller Power Down Recovery	Advanced Flash Management Total Drive Protection Flash Memory Controller Power Down Recovery
READ/WRITE PERFORMANCE MB/S	138/130	138/130
POWER CONSUMPTION SLEEP/IDLE MODE OPERATING MODE	50mW 0.8W	50mW 1.4W
CAPACITY	Up to 64GB	Up to 32GB
	VIEW SLIM SATA	VIEW CFAST™ (SATA CF)

COMPARISON CHART
ATA	SATA
ATA is a parallel interface	SATA is a serial interface with less overhead for higher speeds
ATA supports two devices per bus, a master and a slave device	SATA is a point-to-point interface where each device is connected to a dedicated initiator
ATA device may only be used on an ATA controller	SATA devices may be used on a Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) controller
ATA uses 40 or 80-pin connectors with wide ribbon cabling that reduces system airflow	SATA uses only 4 signal lines for more compact designs and thinner, less expensive cables that promote better system airflow
Maximum bus speed is 133 MB/sec	Currently, SATA supports 1.5Gb (150 MB/sec) speeds with a roadmap to 3Gb and 6Gb