1. SATA –
It stands for Serial Advanced Technology Attachment. It is used to make a connection among bus adapters, mass storage devices like disk drives, optical drives, solid-state drives. Because of less cable size and cost, high data transfer speed and hot swapping. This is efficient compared to PATA. The communication between the SATA devices and host adapters is done via high speed cables with the conductors. It is an updated version of the parallel signalling of the 1980s used for the EIDE(enhancement integrated drive electronics).
2. PATA –
It stands for the Parallel Advanced technology attachment. It is also used to connect the storage devices in computers(Devices like, Hard disk, floppy disk and optical disk drives etc).
It came after ATA and before SATA. The support and control signals are generated by the help of a 16-bit data bus. Connections for PATA devices were made using 40-conductor ribbon cables and later supplanted by 80-conductor cables in which every other conductor is grounded. Because of the short length of PATA cables, we can use them only for internal computer interface.
Difference between SATA and PATA
| S.No. | Comparison | SATA | PATA |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Acronym | It stands for serial ATA. | It stands for parallel ATA. |
| 2. | Current status | Currently in use | Not used now a days. |
| 3. | Speed | Fast speed | Moderate speed |
| 4. | Hot swapping | It supports hot swapping. | It does not support pluggable devices. |
| 5. | Software compatibility | Compatible to most of the Operating system. | It has some problem with some of the Operating system. |
| 6. | Heat dissipation | Heat dissipated efficiently and easily. | It heats too much in compare to SATA. |
| 7. | Power consumption | Power consumption of a SATA device is only a fraction in compare to PATA. It takes 250 mV for opration. | PATA device requires 5 V for operation. |