What is a SATA Hard Drive? User Guide For DIYers

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What Is A SATA Hard Drive: Serial Advanced Technology Attachment, also known as SATA is the new standard for connecting data in your computer. This complete guide is designed for students and DIY learners!

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Old computer set ups can be costly overtime, especially when you have had a number of hard drives data recovery service done on it. If you are thinking about upgrading or building a new computer, you may eventually run into SATA.

SATA drives can help alleviate some of the stress of computer maintenance. SATA Drives are reliable and proven technology. They are perfect for non-demanding use.

What is a SATA hard drive? - Complete Definition!

The SATA (Serial ATA) hard drives is the successor of the traditional PATA (Parallel ATA) Hard drives. It became the central mass storage device on PC. Serial Advanced Technology Attachment, also known as SATA is the new standard for connecting and transferring data components inside of your computer.

What is a SATA hard drive in the flesh is that it’s a bus interface that connects host bus adapters to mass storage devices. SATA is a serial link – a single cable with at least four wires that form a point-to-point connection between devices.

You can find SATA Hard Drives inside of your desktop computers, laptops, or servers. It is a type of rewritable mass storage devices.

SATA Hard Drives are characterized by good transmission speeds and outstanding storage capacities. They are also supported by virtually all operating systems and computer motherboards.

History of SATA Hard Disk Drive - Revisions & Features

Prior to SATA’s introduction in 2003, PATA was known as ATA. The name “AT” attachment was originated after the release of the IBM Personal Computer in 1984. SATA Hard Drive is the replacement to the Parallel (PATA) standard that was designed in 1986.

For several years, it was the most common and the least expensive interface for internal computer storage devices. PATA started to fade away when the SATA was introduced in 2003.

What Are The SATA Interface Revisions?

SATA I was released in 2003, Following that is SATA II in April 2004. SATA Interface 3.0 was introduced on May 2009 followed by Revisions 3.2, 3.3 in 2011 and 2016 respectively.

Here’s a complete overview of the SATA hard drives evolution:

SATA Revision 1.0

The first version of the SATA interface was released in 2003. It’s devices topped out at a transfer rate of 1.5 gigabits per second. The SATA Revision 1.0 devices were commonly used in office desktops and personal computers, and were configured from PATA drives joined together in a master/slave configuration.

SATA Revision 2.0

In April 2004, Native Command Queuing (NCQ) was introduced. This feature allows the drive to perform write/read commands that are transferred randomly. This function helps to optimize the movement of the reading head.

SATA Revision 2.0 devices have a transfer speed increased by double. It rises up to 3.2 gigabits per second or 400MB/s with the addition of port multipliers, port selectors, and improved queuing.

SATA Revision 3.0

The full SATA revision 3.0 standard was released on May 27, 2009. These interfaces support drive transfer rates up to 6 gigabits per second. SATA Revision 3 drives are back compatible with SATA Revision 1.0 and SATA Revision 2.0 devices, but with a lesser transfer speed.

SATA Revision 3.1

Released in July 2011, it is a transitional revision that added final design requirements for SATA Universal Storage Module for consumer-based portable storage applications. This revision introduced or changed the following features:

mSATA
It is a SATA for solid-state drives in mobile computing devices. A PCI Express Mini Card-like connector that is electrically SATA.
Queued TRIM Command
This feature improves the solid-state drive performance.
Required Link Power Management
It decreases overall system power request of several SATA devices.
Hardware Control Features
It enables host identification of device capabilities.
Universal Storage Module (USM)
This is a new typical for cable less plug-in (slot) powered storage for any consumer electronics devices. USM Enables developers to incorporate slots in to computers and other devices.

SATA Revision 3.2

Released in August 2013, this revision presented the SATA Express (SATAe). It supports the real-time use of SATA ports and PCI Express (PCIe) lanes. This made it possible for legacy SATA and PCI Express storage devices to exist together.

SATA Revision 3.3

Released in February 2016, this revision introduced the following features:

Shingled magnetic recording (SMR) support
This feature provides a 25 percent or more increase in hard disks drive capacity by means of overlapping tracks on the media.
Power Disable
This feature allows for remote power cycling of SATA drives. Also, a Rebuild Assist function that helps to speeds up the rebuilding process to relieve maintenance in the data center.
Transmitter Emphasis Specification
It raises the interoperability and reliability between host and devices in electrically difficult environments.

What Are The Advantages of SATA Hard Drive over PATA?

The main advantage of SATA is it’s 150MB/s min speed, SATA is also equipped with Native Command Queuing (NCQ) while PATA isn’t, and lastly, SATA are hot-pluggable and PATA drives are not.

SATA (Serial ATA) is the replacement to PATA (Parallel ATA), the two are interfaces that used to connect to storage devices such as hard drives and optical drives. These are advantages of SATA over PATA:

SATA is the current standard while PATA is already obsolete
It would be hard for you to find PATA drives in your local computer stores today. Most of them now are stocked with SATA drive.
In terms of speed, SATA is much faster than PATA
The biggest factor that made SATA superior to PATA is the speed. The maximum speed of PATA is 133MB/s. The first and slowest version of SATA has the ability to achieve a transfer rate of 150MB/s.
SATA is equipped with NCQ while PATA is not
The Native Command Queuing or NCQ is an extension of the Serial ATA protocol. It allows hard drives to internally enhance the order in which received read and write commands are executed. This feature reorganizes the order of requests.
SATA drives are hot pluggable while PATA drives are not
Hot pluggable drive has the ability to remove or attach drives without having to shut your computer down. SATA drives are similar to USB drives, as they have the ability to be swapped while on the fly.

Related Article: SSD versus HDD

SATA provides an external interface while PATA does not
The hotplug feature also created SATA to use as an external interface like a USB. It is also known as eSATA. This feature offers much higher speeds than USB and is suited for external hard drives. It is also suitable with other portable mass storage devices. Learn more about our data recovery from external hard drives.
SATA uses smaller cables than PATA
SATA uses cables that are just over a centimeter wide while PATA uses a wide ribbon. PATA cables were a nightmare to manage and blocked airflow inside the case.
PATA uses a slave/master arrangement while SATA does notSATA ends the master/slave arrangement and each cable can attach to a single drive.

Data loss from SATA Hard Drive

Now that you know what is a SATA hard drive, choosing the best mod for your computer is easier!

There is no doubt that SATA drive is great for your computer, but incidents in loss of data are inevitable. It may happen for different reasons such as unintentional data deletion, format, partition damage or loss, virus attack, and more.

Hard drives failure like pcb failures can hit your computer at any time. When you try to delete or format the files on SATA drive, you’re not actually removing it. You are just marking the part of it where lost files occupied blank for rewriting.

Data recovery from such hard drive requires reliable practices. If you are searching for a dependable services, you must look for a certified specialist.

TTR Data Recovery is a trusted leader in the business. Engineers at TTR Data Recovery are using the highest standards in the field of data retrieval.

The Certifications that TTR Data Recovery have are the symbol of quality assurance that we guarantee. It includes ISO 9001:2008, IACRB, SOC Type II, GSA, and more.`

Here’s some ways on How to Recover Data From a Dead Hard Drives, it comes handy when in need.

Related: Check out our trusted Solid State Drive Data Recovery Services

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About the Author
Tommy Khamoushi, Data Recovery Expert

Tommy Khamoushi is an IACRB-certified Data Recovery Engineer and a Certified Forensic Computer Investigator. He has more than 20 years of experience in data recovery including providing technical support for the House of Representatives.

Tommy leads a team of data recovery engineers and experts at TTR Data Recovery to recover highly sensitive data for government agencies like the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and enterprise businesses using advanced and proprietary techniques and processes.

Connect with Tommy on LinkedIn.