Serial ATA (SATA, abbreviated from Serial AT Attachment)[2] is a computer
bus interface that connects host bus adapters to mass storage devices such as hard disk drives,
optical drives, and solid-state drives. Serial ATA succeeded the older Parallel ATA (PATA) standard,
[a] offering several advantages over the older interface: reduced cable size and cost (seven conductors instead
of 40 or 80), native hot swapping, faster data transfer through higher signaling rates, and more efficient transfer
through an (optional) I/O queuing protocol. Although, a number of hot plug PATA offering were first invented and marketed
by Core International beginning in the late 1980s for the Micro Channel architecture bus controllers.
