SATA hard disks

Note: this chapter is in outline format and will be fleshed out later

SATA data connector (left) and power connector (right)

Data (left) and power (right) connectors on a SATA drive.

Features

Point-to-point connections

Not a ribbon cable with multiple drives.

Smaller cable (not a ribbon cable)

Some data cables have latches that hold them to the drive. Be careful when removing them.

Speed

3-6 Gbps (burst)

eSATA

External SATA
Competes with USB drives

Installation

Same as IDE except

• No Master/Slave configuration
• Only one drive per cable
• Motherboard connectors:

SATA connectors on a motherboard[1]

One motherboard connector for each data cable. They are ofter labeled SATA 1, SATA 2, etc. In the setup or in Windows, HDD and a number indicated a particular drive. SATA 1 = HDD0, SATA 2 = HDD1, etc.

If you have a single drive, you may not have to put it on the SATA 1 connector, but you should.