I Ntroduction - Samsung SpinPoint M9T Product Manual

1.3 SATA
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 (approximately 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
w i t h P a r a l l e l o r t r a d i t i o n a l A T A (PATA) hardware, it is compliant with ATA protocol and
therefore software compatible. The cable geometry with smaller footprint connector reduces board
space requirements and improves air flow and heat exchange inside computer systems.
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 slave drive based on jumper pin or cable selection. Unlike
parallel ATA, SATA drives are hot-plug and hot-swappable.
1.4 Reference
For additional information about the AT interface, refer to:
ATA-2 (AT Attachment 2), Revision 3, January, 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
Serial ATA: A comparison with Ultra ATA Technology
(URL: http://www.intel.com
Serial ATA II: Port Multiplier 1.0 Specification, April 29th, 2003.
(URL: http://www.serialdata.org
Serial ATA International Organization: Serial ATA Revision 3.1, July 18, 2011,
(URL: http://www.serialdata.org)
Spinpoint M9T Product Manual REV 1.0
retrieved on May 22, 2003)
retrieved April 18,2003)
retrieved on May 22, 2003)
SCOPE
2