DEFINATION OF SATA :-

The full form of SATA is Serial Advanced Technology

Attachment. SATA is a computer bus primarily
designed for transfer of data between a computer and
mass storage devices such as hard disk drives and
optical drives.
It was designed as a successor to the Advanced
Technology Attachment standard (ATA) , and is
expected to eventually replace the older technology.
 ADVANTAGES
The main advantages over the older
parallel ATA interface are faster data
transfer , ability to remove or add devices
while operating , thinner cables that let air
cooling work more efficiently , and more
reliable operation with tighter data integrity
checks.
 CABLES
SATA uses only 4 signal lines ; cables are
more compact and cheaper than for
parallel ATA. SATA supports hot-swapping
and NCQ (Native Command Queuing).
 eSATA
There is a special connector (eSATA) specified for
external devices, and an optionally implemented
provision for clips to hold internal connectors firmly
in place.
eSATA defined separate cables , connectors and
revised electrical requirements for external
applications:-
1. Minimum transmit potential range increased from
400-600 mV to 500-600mV.
2. Minimum receive potential range decreased from
325-600mV to 240-600mV.
3. Maximum cable length of 2m.
SATA AND eSATA CONNECTOR
Bridged drives have a SATA connector , may include
either or both kind of power connectors, and
generally perform identically to their parallel ATA
equivalents. During initial period after SATA/150
finalization, adapter and drive manufactures used a
“bridge chip” to existing parallel ATA designs for use
with the SATA interface. Bridge product gradually
gave way to native SATA products.
 POWER connecter
The SATA standard
also specifies a
new power
connector. Like the
data cable, it is
wafer-based, but
its wider 15-pin
shape prevents
accidental
misidentification
and forced
insertion of the
wrong connector type. Native
SATA devices favor the SATA
power-connector over the old
four-pin Molex connector,
although some SATA drives
retain older 4-pin Molex.
• eSATA cable
1. At the device level , Serial ATA and Parallel ATA
devices are completely incompatible- they can’t be
interconnected.
At the application level, Serial ATA devices are
specified to look and act like parallel ATA devices.
2. In early motherboard implementations of serial ATA,
backward compatibility allowed SATA drives to be
used as drop-in replacements for parallel ATA drives,
even without native (driver- level) support at the
operating system level.
4.PCI cards with a SATA connector exist
that allow SATA drives to connect to
legacy systems without SATA
connectors.
 DEFINITION OF IDE:-
IDE stands for Integrated Drive Electronics which is a
standard electronic interface used between a computer
motherboards data paths or bus and the computer’s disk
storage devices.
IDE interface based on IBM PC industry
standard architecture 16 bit bus standard but it is also
used in computers that use other bus standards. Most
computers sold today use an enhanced version of IDE
called Enhanced Integrated Drive Electronics. In today’s
computers, the IDE controller is often built into the
motherboard.