Glossary · Hardware

SATA (Serial ATA)

SATA is a common interface that connects internal storage drives such as HDDs and SSDs to a computer's motherboard.

Updated October 6, 2026

SATA (Serial ATA) is an interface standard for connecting storage devices like hard disks and 2.5-inch SSDs to a motherboard. The current version, SATA III, runs at 6 Gbit/s.

Why it matters

SATA is cheap and nearly universal, so it is common in desktops, servers and NAS devices. Its 6 Gbit/s link gives a practical limit of about 550 MB/s, which is fine for hard disks but a bottleneck for fast SSDs.

SATA drives use one data cable and a separate power connector, and support hot swapping in many server bays.

Example

6 Gbit/s with 8b/10b encoding
6,000,000,000 x 8/10 / 8 = 600 MB/s theoretical

After protocol overhead, real drives top out around 550 MB/s, far below modern NVMe drives.

Common mistakes

  • Confusing SATA with M.2 SATA, which is the same protocol in a different shape.
  • Expecting a SATA SSD to match NVMe speeds.
  • Mixing up SATA and eSATA or SAS connectors.

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