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	SATA 3Gb	IDE (Parallel ATA) Serial ATA (SATA)	ATA-7 SATA
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	Enterprise Computing Communications/Networking Automotive Embedded/Industrial Military/Aerospace Medical Equipment Casino Gaming Professional Media
TECHNOLOGY	CellCare™ Technology SSD Performance Advanced Flash Management Total Drive Protection Flash Life Support SSD Controller PowerSafe™ SSD Testing IC Tower® TSOP Stacking	CellCare™ Technology SSD Performance Advanced Flash Management Total Drive Protection Flash Life Support SSD Controller PowerSafe™ SSD Testing IC Tower® TSOP Stacking	Advanced Flash Management Total Drive Protection Flash Life Support SSD Controller PowerSafe™
FORM FACTOR	2.5" 1.8"	2.5" 1.8"	1" SSD (HDD Replacement)
READ/WRITE PERFORMANCE (MB/S)	up to 250/180 up to 26,000/Up to 16,000	up to 90/90 up to 10,000/Up to 2,000	up to 90/55
POWER CONSUMPTION SLEEP/IDLE MODE OPERATING MODE	750mW 6.0W	500mW 2.1W	150mA (max) 1.0mA (max)
CAPACITY	up to 200GB (SLC) up to 400GB (MLC)	up to 256GB up to 200GB (IOPS)	up to 326GB (MLC) up to 16GB (SLC)
	VIEW MACH16™ SSD	VIEW MACH8™ SSD FAMILY	VIEW MACH4 SSD

INTERFACE	SATA	SATA
APPLICATIONS	Embedded/Industrial Ultra Mobile PCs	Embedded/Industrial
TECHNOLOGY	Advanced Flash Management Total Drive Protection Flash Memory Controller PowerSafe™	Advanced Flash Management Total Drive Protection Flash Memory Controller PowerSafe™
READ/WRITE PERFORMANCE MB/S	138/130	138/130
POWER CONSUMPTION SLEEP/IDLE MODE OPERATING MODE	400mW 1.0W	50mW 1.0W
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