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)
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	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
FORM FACTOR	2.5" 1.8"	2.5" 1.8"
READ/WRITE PERFORMANCE SUSTAINED (MB/S) 4K RANDOM (IOPS)	up to 250/190 up to 24,000/8,800	up to 90/90 up to 10,000/4,000
PHYSICAL POWER POWER SUPPLY	6.0W 5V/3.3V	500mW 2.1W
CAPACITY  [1]As used for storage capacity, one megabyte (MB) = one million bytes, one gigabyte (GB) = one billion bytes, and one terabyte (TB) = one trillion bytes. Available capacity will vary depending on operating environment and formatting.	up to 200GB (SLC) up to 400GB (MLC)	up to 256GB up to 200GB (IOPS)
	VIEW MACH16™ SSD	VIEW MACH8™ SSD FAMILY

INTERFACE	SATA-II (3Gbps)	SATA (3Gbps)
APPLICATIONS	Embedded/Industrial Ultra Mobile PCs	Embedded/Industrial
TECHNOLOGY	CellCare™ Technology Advanced Flash Management Total Drive Protection SSD Controller PowerSafe™	Advanced Flash Management Total Drive Protection SSD Controller PowerSafe™
FORM FACTOR	Slim SATA (MO-297)	CFast™
READ/WRITE PERFORMANC MB/S	Up to 245/150	Up to 100/60
PHYSICAL POWER POWER SUPPLY		‹160mA 5V/3.3V
CAPACITY  [1]As used for storage capacity, one megabyte (MB) = one million bytes, one gigabyte (GB) = one billion bytes, and one terabyte (TB) = one trillion bytes. Available capacity will vary depending on operating environment and formatting.	25/50GB	Up to 16GB
	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