A serial version of the parallel ATA interface widely used for hard disk attachment. Serial ATA supports data transfer rates up to 300 Mbytes/s and enhancements up to 600 Mbytes/s are planned. Cables are much smaller than the flat ribbon cables used conventionally and can be up to two metres long. Serial ATA is compatible with existing IDE standards by emulation.
Electronics and Electrical Engineering
A standard for connecting computers to mass storage devices. It is in widespread use in virtually all personal computers, having replaced SCSI for internal storage. The most recent version can reach data-transfer speeds of 16 Gbits/second.