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Terminology
The name SATA II has become synonymous with the 3 Gbit/s standard. In order to provide the industry with consistent
terminology, the SATA-IO has compiled a set of marketing guidelines for the third revision of the specification.
The SATA 6 Gbit/s specification should be called Serial ATA International Organization: Serial ATA Revision 3.0.
The technology itself is to be referred to as SATA 6 Gb/s.
A product using this standard should be called the SATA 6 Gb/s [product name].
Using the terms SATA III or SATA 3.0 to refer to a SATA 6 Gbit/s product is unclear and not preferred. SATA-IO has
provided a guideline to foster consistent marketing terminology across the industry. [20]
SATA connector on a hard drive; data connections on the left and power connections on the right.
The SATA standard defines a data cable with seven conductors (3 grounds and 4 active data lines in two pairs) and 8 mm
wide wafer connectors on each end. SATA cables can have lengths up to 1 metre (3.3 ft), and connect one motherboard
socket to one hard drive. PATA ribbon cables, in comparison, connect one motherboard socket to one or two hard drives,
carry either 40 or 80 wires, and are limited to 45 centimetres (18 in) in length by the PATA specification (however, cables
up to 90 centimetres (35 in) are readily available). Thus, SATA connectors and cables are easier to fit in closed spaces,
and reduce obstructions to air cooling. They are more susceptible to accidental unplugging and breakage than PATA, but
cables can be purchased that have a locking feature, whereby a small (usually metal) spring holds the plug in the socket.
SATA connectors may be straight, right-angled, or left angled. Angled connectors allow for lower profile connections.
Right-angled (also called 90 degree) connectors lead the cable immediately away from the drive, on the circuit board side.
Left-angled (also called 270 degree) connectors lead the cable across the drive towards its top.
One of the problems associated with the transmission of data at high speed over electrical connections is described as
noise, which is due to electrical coupling between data circuits and other circuits. As a result, the data circuits can both
affect other circuits, and be affected by them. Designers use a number of techniques to reduce the undesirable effects of
such unintentional coupling. One such technique used in SATA links is differential signaling. This is an enhancement over
PATA, which uses single-ended signaling.
Power connectors
Standard connector Mating Function
Pin #
Coding notch
1 3rd 3.3 V
2 3rd
3 2nd
4 1st Ground
5 2nd
6 2nd
7 2nd 5V
8 3rd
9 3rd
10 2nd Ground
11 3rd Staggered spinup/activity
(in supporting drives)
12 1st Ground
13 2nd 12 V
14 3rd
15 3rd
A 15-pin SATA power connector. Note that this connector is missing the 3.3V (orange) wire.
The SATA standard specifies a power connector that differs from the decades-old four-pin Molex connector found on pre-
SATA devices. Like the data cable, it is wafer-based, but its wider 15-pin shape prevents accidental mis-identification and
forced insertion of the wrong connector type. Native SATA devices favor the SATA power-connector, although some early
SATA drives retained older 4-pin Molex in addition to the SATA power connector. SATA features more pins than the
traditional connector for several reasons:
A third voltage is supplied, 3.3 V, in addition to the traditional 5 V and 12 V.
Each voltage is transmitted through three pins grouped together, because the small contacts by themselves
cannot supply sufficient current for some devices. (Each pin should be able to carry 1.5 A.)
Five pins provide ground.
For each of the three voltages, one of the three pins serves for hotplugging. The ground pins and power pins 3, 7,
and 13 are longer on the plug (located on the SATA device) so they will connect first. A special hot-plug receptacle
(on the cable or a backplane) can connect ground pins 4 and 12 first.
Pin 11 can function for staggered spinup, activity indication, or nothing. Staggered spinup is used to prevent many
drives from spinning up simultaneously, as this may draw too much power. Activity is an indication of whether the
drive is busy, and is intended to give feedback to the user through an LED.
Adapters are available that convert a 4-pin Molex connector to a SATA power connector. Generally, because the power
lines on 4-pin Molex connectors do not provide 3.3 V power, these adapters provide only 5 V and 12 V power on the SATA
Slimline Mating Function end and leave the 3.3 V lines unconnected. This precludes the
connector use of such adapters with drives that require 3.3 V power.
Pin # Because of this, drive manufacturers have largely not used the
Coding notch 3.3 V power lines. There also exist some 4-pin Molex to SATA
1 3rd Device power adapters which include electronics to provide 3.3 V power.
presence
2 2nd 5V
3 2nd
4 2nd Manufacturing diagnostic
5 1st Ground
6 1st
A 6-pin Slimline SATA power connector.
The back of a SATA-based slimline optical drive.
SATA 2.6 first defined the slimline connector, intended for smaller form-factors; e.g., notebook optical drives. Pin 1 (device
presence) is shorter than the others.
Micro Mating Function
connector (Backplan
Pin # e)
1 3rd 3.3 V
2 2nd
3 1st Ground
4 1st
5 2nd 5V
6 3rd
7 3rd Reserved
Coding notch
8 3rd Vendor
specific A 1.8-inch (46-millimeter) hard drive, showing data connector and micro
9 2nd power connector.
The micro connector originated with SATA 2.6. It is intended for 1.8-inch (46 mm) hard drives. There is also a micro data
connector, similar in appearance to but slightly thinner than the standard data connector.
eSATA
Standardized in 2004, eSATA (e standing for external) provides a variant of SATA meant for external connectivity. While it
has revised electrical requirements and the connectors and cables are not identical with SATA, the protocol and logical
signaling are compatible on the (internal) SATA level:
Minimum transmit potential increased: Range is 500600 mV instead of 400600 mV.
Minimum receive potential decreased: Range is 240600 mV instead of 325600 mV.
Identical protocol and logical signaling (link/transport-layer and above), allowing native SATA devices to be
deployed in external enclosures with minimal modification
Maximum cable length of 2 metres (6.6 ft) (USB and FireWire allow longer distances.)
The external cable connector equates to a shielded version of the connector specified in SATA 1.0a with these
basic differences:
o The external connector has no "L"-shaped key, and the guide features are vertically offset and reduced in
size. This prevents the use of unshielded internal cables in external applications and vice-versa.
o To prevent ESD damage, the design increased insertion depth from 5 mm to 6.6 mm and the contacts are
mounted farther back in both the receptacle and plug.
o To provide EMI protection and meet FCC and CE emission requirements, the cable has an extra layer of
shielding, and the connectors have metal contact-points.
o The connector shield has retention springs in on both the top and bottom surfaces.
o The external connector and cable have a design-life of over five thousand insertions and removals,
whereas the internal connector is specified to withstand only fifty.
Aimed at the consumer market, eSATA enters an external storage market served also by the USB and FireWire interfaces.
Most external hard-disk-drive cases with FireWire or USB interfaces use either PATA or SATA drives and "bridges" to
translate between the drives' interfaces and the enclosures' external ports; this bridging incurs some inefficiency. Some
single disks can transfer 157 MB/s during real use,[8] about four times the maximum transfer rate of USB 2.0 or FireWire
400 (IEEE 1394a) and almost twice as fast as the maximum transfer rate of FireWire 800. The S3200 FireWire 1394b
spec reaches ~400 MB/s (3.2 Gbit/s), and USB 3.0 has a nominal speed of 5 Gbit/s. Some low-level drive features, such
as S.M.A.R.T., may not operate through some USB [22] or FireWire or USB+FireWire bridges; eSATA does not suffer from
these issues provided that the controller manufacturer (and its drivers) presents eSATA drives as ATA devices, rather than
as "SCSI" devices, as has been common with Silicon Image, JMicron, and NVIDIA nForce drivers for Windows Vista. In
those cases SATA drives will not have low-level features accessible. Firewire's future 6.4 Gbit/s (768 MB/s) will be faster
than eSATA I. The eSATA version of SATA 6G will operate at 6.0 Gbit/s (the term SATA III is being eschewed by the SATA-
IO to avoid confusion with SATA II 3.0 Gbit/s, which was colloquially referred to as "SATA 3G" [bps] or "SATA 300" [MB/s]
since 1.5 Gbit/s SATA I and 1.5 Gbit/s SATA II were referred to as both "SATA 1.5G" [b/s] or "SATA 150" [MB/s]).
Therefore, they will operate with negligible differences between them. [23] Once an interface can transfer data as fast as a
drive can handle them, increasing the interface speed does not improve data transfer.
Most computers have USB ports, and many computers and consumer electronic appliances have FireWire ports, but few
devices have external SATA connectors. For small form-factor devices (such as external 2.5-inch (64 mm) disks), a PC-
hosted USB or FireWire link can usually supply sufficient power to operate the device. However, eSATA connectors
cannot supply power, and require a power supply for the external device. The related eSATAp (but mechanically
incompatible, sometimes called eSATA/USB) connector adds power to an external SATA connection, so that an additional
power supply is not needed.[24]
Desktop computers without a built-in eSATA interface can install an eSATA host bus adapter (HBA); if the motherboard
supports SATA, an externally available eSATA connector can be added. Notebook computers can be upgraded with
Cardbus[25] or ExpressCard[26] versions of an eSATA HBA. With passive adapters, the maximum cable length is reduced to
1 metre (3.3 ft) due to the absence of compliant eSATA signal-levels.
eSATAp
Main article: eSATAp
eSATAp stands for powered eSATA. It is also known as Power over eSATA, eSATA USB Hybrid Port (EUHP), or
eSATA/USB Combo. An eSATAp port combines the 4 pins of the USB 2.0 (or earlier) port, the 7 pins of the eSATA port,
and optionally two 12-volt power pins.[27] Both SATA traffic and device power are integrated in a single cable, as is the
case with USB but not eSATA. Power at 5 volts is provided through two USB pins; power at 12 Volts may optionally be
provided. Typically desktop, but not notebook, computers provide 12 volt power, so can power devices requiring this
voltage, typically 3.5" disk and CD/DVD drives, in addition to 5 volt devices such as 2.5" drives.
Both USB and eSATA devices can be used with an eSATAp port, when plugged in with a USB or eSATA cable,
respectively. An eSATA device cannot be powered via an eSATA cable, but cables are available which make available
both SATA or eSATA and power connectors from an eSATAp port.
An eSATAp connector can be built into a computer with internal SATA and USB, by fitting a bracket with connections for
internal SATA, USB, and power connectors and an externally accessible eSATAp port.
Although eSATAp connectors have been built into several devices, manufacturers do not refer to an official standard.
Pre-standard implementations
Prior to the final eSATA 3 Gbit/s specification, a number of products were designed for external connection of
SATA drives. Some of these use the internal SATA connector, or even connectors designed for other interface
specifications, such as FireWire. These products are not eSATA compliant. The final eSATA specification features
a specific connector designed for rough handling, similar to the regular SATA connector, but with reinforcements in
both the male and female sides, inspired by the USB connector. eSATA resists inadvertent unplugging, and can
withstand yanking or wiggling, which could break a male SATA connector (the hard-drive or host adapter, usually
fitted inside the computer). With an eSATA connector, considerably more force is needed to damage the
connector, and if it does break it is likely to be the female side, on the cable itself, which is relatively easy to
replace.[citation needed]
Prior to the final eSATA 6 Gbit/s specification many add-on cards and some motherboards advertised eSATA 6
Gbit/s support because they had 6 Gbit/s SATA 3.0 controllers for internal-only solutions. Those implementations
are non-standard, and eSATA 6 Gbit/s requirements will be ratified in the upcoming SATA 3.1 specification. [28]
These products might not be eSATA 6 Gbit/s compliant.
mSATA
Mini-SATA, which is distinct from the micro connector, was announced by the Serial ATA International Organization on
September 21, 2009.[29] Applications include netbooks and other devices that require a smaller solid-state drive. The
connector is similar in appearance to a PCI Express Mini Card interface,[30] but is electrically incompatible.
Protocol
The SATA specification defines three distinct protocol layers: physical, link, and transport.
Physical layer
The physical layer defines SATA's electrical and physical characteristics (such as cable dimensions and parasitics, driver
voltage level and receiver operating range), as well as the physical coding subsystem (bit-level encoding, device detection
on the wire, and link initialization).
Physical transmission uses differential signaling. The SATA PHY contains a transmit pair and receive pair. When the
SATA-link is not in use (example: no device attached), the transmitter allows the transmit pins to float to their common-
mode voltage level. When the SATA-link is either active or in the link-initialization phase, the transmitter drives the transmit
pins at the specified differential voltage (1.5v in SATA/I.)
SATA physical coding uses a line encoding system known as 8b/10b encoding. This scheme serves multiple functions
required to sustain a differential serial link. First, the stream contains necessary synchronization information that allows for
SATA host/drive to extract clocking. The 8b/10b encoded sequence embeds periodic edge transitions to allow the receiver
to achieve bit-alignment without the use of a separately transmitted reference clock waveform. The sequence also
maintains a neutral (DC-balanced) bitstream, which allows the transmit drivers and receiver inputs to be AC-coupled.
Also, Serial/ATA uses some of the of special characters defined in 8b/10b. In particular, the PHY layer uses the comma
(K28.5) character to maintain symbol-alignment. A specific 4-symbol sequence, the ALIGN primitive, is used for clock rate-
matching between the two devices on the link. Other special symbols communicate flow control information produced and
consumed in the higher layers (link and transport.)
Separate point-to-point AC-coupled LVDS links are used for physical transmission between host and drive.
The PHY layer is responsible for detecting the other SATA/device on a cable, and link initialization. During the link-
initialization process, the PHY is responsible for locally generating special out-of-band signals by switching the transmitter
between electrical-idle and specific 10b-characters in a defined pattern, negotiating a mutually supported signalling rate
(1.5, 3.0, or 6.0 Gbit/s), and finally synchronizing to the far-end device's PHY-layer data stream. During this time, no data
is sent from the link-layer.
Once link-initialization has completed, the link-layer takes over data-transmission, with the PHY providing only the 8b/10b
conversion before bit transmission.
Link layer
After the PHY-layer has established a link, the link layer is responsible for transmission and reception of FISs over the
SATA link. FISs are packets containing control information or payload data. Each packet contains a header (identifying its
type), and payload whose contents are dependent on the type. The link layer also manages flow control between over the
link.
Transport layer
The Transport layer controls the read and write operation (Frame Information Structure [FIS]) types. It is also implemented
from programmable logic gates.
This section requires expansion.
Topology
Unlike PATA, both SATA and eSATA support hot-swapping by design. However, this feature requires proper support at the
host, device (drive), and operating-system level. In general, all SATA devices (drives) support hot-swapping (due to the
requirements on the device-side), also most SATA host adapters support this command.[1]
SCSI-3 devices with SCA-2 connectors are designed for hot-swapping. Many server and RAID systems provide hardware
support for transparent hot-swapping. The designers of the SCSI standard prior to SCA-2 connectors did not target hot-
swapping, but, in practice, most RAID implementations support hot-swapping of hard disks.