(SATA, Serial ATA) A computer
bus technology
primarily designed for transfer of data to and from a
hard disk. SATA is the successor to
Advanced Technology Attachment (ATA), which was given the
retronym Parallel ATA
(PATA) to distinguish it from Serial ATA.
Serial ATA is designed to be scalable. The original SATA/150
or "SATA 1" can transfer up to 150
MBps and "SATA 3.0
Gbit/s" has a maximum data rate of 300
MBps.
Both SATA and PATA drives have built-in low level control
electronics but the term
IDE is usually restricted to
parallel ATA drives.
http://www.serialata.org/.