Samsung 100737108-A ,

SCOPE

The ATA (Advanced Technology Attachment) interface which was developed based on the IDE

(Integrated Drive Electronics) has been around from 1980’s. As the PC processor speed has improved,

so have the data rates of the HDD. The parallel ATA is reaching its limit of 133 MB/s data transfer rate.

Serial implementation of ATA (SATA) will allow the data rate to run even faster so the processor will

be utilized more efficiently. Serial ATA has been developed to provide the next generation storage

interface.

SATA interface replaces 2 inch wide, 40 pin parallel interface connector with 0.25 inch wide 7 pin

serial interface connector. The maximum length of the SATA interface cable can be extended to 1

meter (app roximately 39 inches) compared to 18 inch of parallel ATA. SATA also allows a data

transfer speed of 150 MB/s, 300 MB/s, and 600 MB/s. Even though SATA will not directly interface

with Parallel or traditional ATA (PATA) h ardware, it is compliant with ATA protocol and

therefore software compatible. The cable geometry with smaller footp rint connector reduces board

space requirements and improves air flow and heat exchange inside computer s ystems.

SATA uses point to point connection topology and each channel works independently. There is no

sharing of interface, master/slave drive configuration, and no master/slave jumper settings. This is

different from Parallel ATA (PATA) architecture where 2 drives per port are supported by a shared bus

and drives are designated as master or slav e drive based on jumper pin or cable selection. Unlike

parallel ATA, SATA drives are hot-plug and hot-swappable.

For additional information about the AT interface, refer to:

 ATA-2 (AT Attachment 2), Revision 3, Januar y, 1995

 ATA-3 (Attachment-3 Interface) Revision 7b, 27 January, 1997

 ATA-4 (AT Attachment with Packet Interface Extension) Revision 18, 19 August, 1998

 ATA-5 (AT Attachment with Packet Interface Extension) Revision 3, 29 February, 2000

 ATA-6 (AT Attachment with Packet Interface Extension) Revision 2a, 26 September, 2001

 ATA-7 (AT Attachment with Packet Interface Extension) Revision 1, 28 August, 2002

 ATA-8 (AT Attachment with Packet Interface Extension) Revision 0, 16 September, 2008

For introduction about SATA interface please refer to:

 SATA 1.0 Design Guides, April 5, 2002.

(URL: http:// www.serialdata.org retrieved on May 22, 2003)

 Serial ATA: A comparison with Ultra ATA Technology

(URL: http://www.intel.com retrieved April 18,2003)

 Serial ATA: High Speed Serialized AT Attachment, Rev. 1.0a, Januar y 7, 2003, Serial Workgroup.

(URL: http://www.serialdata.org retrieved on May 22, 2003)

 Serial ATA II: Port Multiplier 1.0 Specification, April 29th, 2003.

(URL: http://www.s erialdata.org retrieved on May 22, 2003)