SATA

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT……………………….
………………………..i
ABSTRACT………………………………………………………………ii
LIST OF TABLES……………………………………………………….iii
LIST OF FIGURES………………………………………………………iv

1. INTRODUCTION…………………………………………...................2
1.1 Overview……………………………………………………2
1.2 Motivation. ………………………………...……………….3
1.3 Background…………………………………………………4
2. Types of SATA…….………………………………………….………..5
2.1 Internal……………………………………………………...5
2.2 e-SATA……………………………………………………..6
3. Physical Appearances of SATA ports & cable…………………………7
4. SATA ports & cable connection in pc…………………………………14
5. Version of SATA………………………………………………………16
6. Layer Model & Topology……………………………………………...18
7. Features & Applications……………………………………………….21
8. CONCLUSION…………………….………………………….………24

REFERENCES…………………………………………………………...25

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CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Overview:

Serial ATA (SATA)(Serial Advanced Technology Attachment) is a Computer Bus

Interface for connecting Host Bus Adapter to Mass Storage Devise such as Hard disk
drive and optical drives.

In computer hardware, Serial ATA is a computer bus technology primarily designed for
transfer of data to and from a hard disk. It is the successor to the legacy AT Attachment
retroactively renamed Parallel ATA (PATA) to distinguish it from Serial ATA. Both
SATA and PATA drives are IDE (Integrated Drive Electronics) drives, although IDE is
often misused to indicate PATA drives.

SATA drops the master/slave shared bus of PATA, giving each device a dedicated cable
and dedicated bandwidth. While this requires twice the number of host controllers to
support the same number of SATA devices, at the time of SATA's introduction this was
no longer a significant drawback. Another controller could be added into a controller
ASIC at little cost beyond the addition of the extra seven signal lines and printed circuit
board (PCB) space for the cable header.

Currently, most PC motherboards do not have an e-SATA connector. e-SATA may be

enabled through the addition of an e-SATA host bus adapter (HBA) or bracket
connector for desktop systems or with a Card bus or Express Card for notebooks.

USB and Firewire require conversion of all communication with the external disk, so
external USB/Firewire enclosures include a PATA or SATA bridge chip that translates
from the ATA protocol to USB or Firewire. Drive features like S.M.A.R.T. cannot be
exploited that way and the achievable transfer speed with USB/Firewire is only about
half of the entire bus data rate of about 50MB/s. This limited effective data transfer rate
becomes very visible when using an external RAID array and also with fast single disks
which may yield well over 70MB/s during real use.

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1.2 Motivation:

Standard (ATA) This older technology was Serial ATA innovations.

Features allowed for by SATA but not by PATA include hot-swapping, native
command queuing and To ease their transition to SATA, many manufacturers have
produced drives which use controllers largely identical to those on their PATA drives
and include a bridge chip on the logic board. Bridged drives have a SATA connector,
may include either or both kinds of power connectors, and generally perform identically
to native drives. They may, however, lack support for some SATA-specific features. As
of 2004, all major hard drive manufacturers produce either bridged or native SATA
drives.

eSATA was standardized in mid-2004, with specifically defined cables, connectors, and
signal requirements for external SATA drives. eSATA is characterized by:

• Full SATA speed for external disks (115MB/s have been measured with external
RAID enclosures).

• No protocol conversion from PATA/SATA to USB/Firewire, all disk features are

available to the host.

• Cable length is restricted to 2m, USB and Firewire span longer distances.

• Minimum and maximum transmit voltage decreased to 400mV- 500mV.

• Minimum and maximum receive voltage decreased to 240mV- 500mV.

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1.3 Background:

Currently, most PC motherboards do not have an eSATA connector. eSATA may be

enabled through the addition of an eSATA host bus adapter (HBA) or bracket connector for
desktop systems or with a Card bus or Express Card for notebooks. Full SATA speed for
external disks (115MB/s have been measured with external RAID enclosures) No protocol
conversion from PATA/SATA to USB/Firewire, all disk features are available to the host
Cable length is restricted to 2m, USB and Firewire span longer distances. Minimum and
maximum transmit voltage decreased to 400mV - 500mVMinimum and maximum receive
voltage decreased to 240mV - 500mV.

Full SATA speed for external disks (115MB/s have been measured with external RAID
enclosures)No protocol conversion from PATA/SATA to USB/Firewire, all disk features are
available to the host Cable length is restricted to 2m, USB and Firewire span longer
distances. Minimum and maximum transmit voltage decreased to 400mV - 500mVMinimum
and maximum receive voltage decreased to 240mV - 500mV.

CHAPTER 2

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Types of SATA

SATA are classified based on what Form they are used .

Basically SATA are use in two ways

1- Internal
2- e-SATA(External SATA)

2.1 Internal:

SATA overcomes the limitations of parallel ATA by providing thinner cabling, smaller
connectors, lower voltage, and point-to-point signaling. Like its parallel predecessor, SATA
will dominate the desktop market because it offers desktop reliability, functionality, and
performance at a low cost.

It provide less cable bulk in our systems. The maximum size of these SATA is 1 meter.

It is used in communication between host adaptor (like motherboard) & mass storage devices
(like Hard disk, optical drives etc).

2.2 e-SATA(External SATA)

It is used for connecting external devices(like pen drive, game console, pc-servers etc ).

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It has revised electrical requirements in addition to incompatible cables and connectors:

 Minimum transmit potential increased: Range is 500–600 mV instead of 400–

600 mV.
 Minimum receive potential decreased: Range is 240–600 mV instead of 325–600 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 springs as retention features built 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.

CHAPTER 3

Physical Appearances of SATA ports & cable.

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SATA Cables & Adapters:

SATA provides to be a cost-effective, reliable, scalable storage solution for

Personal to Enterprise Storage applications.

Serial ATA [SATA] bus is defined over two separate connectors, one connector for the data
lines and one for the power lines. A Serial ATA Hard drive may also have a third connector
for legacy PATA power connections. The PATA power connector may be used in instead of
the SATA power to supply a connection which is more rugged and reliable than the SATA-1
power connection.

There are some sample of SATA ports &connectors……….

3.1 SATA connector(data+power)

3.2 7 pin SATA data connector.

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3.3 15 pin SATA Power connector.

3.4 7 pin eSATA data connector (male + female)

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3.5 7 pin SATA slimline connector (data + power(The first pin of

power in center)).

3.6 7 pin SATA data connector (with pin specification).

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3.7 15 pin SATA data connector (with pin specification).

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3.8 Slimline connector

SATA 2.6 first defined the slimline connector, intended for smaller form-factors; e.g.,

notebook optical drives.

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3.9 SATA port(motherboard)

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CHAPTER 4

SATA ports & cable connection in pc.

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There are two action in connecting SATA.

1- Attaching Cables and Mounting the Drive

2- Configuring the BIOS

4.1 Attaching Cables and Mounting the Drive :

There are following three action require in this purpose…

4.1.1 Attach one end of the drive interface cable to the Serial ATA interface connector
on your computer's motherboard or Serial ATA host adapter (see your computer
manual for connector locations). Host adapter configuration is shown below.

Note: Serial ATA connectors are keyed to ensure correct orientation.

4.1.2 Attach the interface and power cables to the drive.

4.1.3 Secure the drive using four 6-32 UNC mounting screws in either the side-mounting
or bottom-mounting holes. Insert the screws no more than 0.20 inches (5.08 mm)
into the bottom-mounting holes and no more than 0.14 inches (3.55 mm) into the
side-mounting holes.
Note: Do not over tighten the screws or use metric screws. This
may damage the drive.
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4.2 Configuring the BIOS

There are following three action require in this purpose…
Close your computer case and restart your computer. Your computer may automatically
detect your new drive. If your computer does not automatically detect your new drive, follow
the steps below.

4.2.1 Restart your computer. While the computer restarts, run the System setup program
(sometimes called BIOS or CMOS setup).
This is usually done by pressing a special key, such as DELETE, ESC, or F1 during
the startup process.
4.2.2 Within the system setup program, instruct the system to auto detect your new drive.
4.2.3 Save the settings and exit the setup program. When your computer restarts, it should
recognize your new drive. If your system still doesn't recognize your new drive, see
the troubleshooting section on the back of this sheet.

Note: Serial ATA is a new interface type. Some older systems may see the drive and classify
it as a SCSI device if you are using a Serial ATA host adapter. This is normal even though
this is not a SCSI disc drive. Many systems’ BIOS will not identify a Serial ATA drive
connected to a PCI SATA host adapter.  This is because a PCI SATA Host Adapter has its
own BIOS which is used to identify hard drives connected to it which is separate from the
BIOS of the computer.  To determine whether or not the SATA Host Adapter is detecting the
Serial ATA hard drive, please consult the documentation provided by the Serial ATA Host
Adapter’s manufacturer. This does not affect drive performance or capacity.

CHAPTER 5

Version of SATA

Generation Standard Year Speed

SATA 1.0 ATA/ATAP 2002 150 MB/sec
I-7
SATA 2.0 ATA/ATAP 2004 300 MB/sec
I-8

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SATA 3.0 ATA/ATAP 2007 600 MB/sec

I-9

5.1 SATA Revision 1.0 (SATA 1.5Gb/s)

First-generation SATA interfaces, now known as SATA 1.5 Gbit/s, communicate ata rate of
1.5 Gbit/s. Taking 8b/10b encoding overhead into account, they have an actual uncoded
transfer rate of 1.2 Gbit/s(1500000000*8/10/1024/1024/8≅143.05MiB/s).The theoretical
burst throughput of SATA 1.5 Gbit/s is similar to that of PATA/133, but newer SATA
devices offer enhancements such as NCQ, which improve performance in a multitasking
environment.

5.2 SATA Revision 2.0 (SATA 3Gb/s)

Second generation SATA interfaces running at 3Gb/s are currently shipping in high
volume. As of 2010 and prevalent in all SATA disk drives and the majority of PC and server
chipsets. 3.0 Gbit/s, communicate at a rate of 3 Gbit/s. Taking 8b/10b encoding overhead into
account,they have an actual uncoded transfer rateof 2.4 Gbit/s (3000000000*8/10/1024/
1024/8 ≅ 286.10 MiB/s).The theoretical burst throughput of SATA 3.0 Gbit/s is roughly
double that of PATA/133. Also,SATA devices offer enhancements such as NCQ that
improve performance in a multitasking environment.

All SATA data cables meeting the SATA spec are rated for 3.0 Gbit/s and will handle
current mechanical drives without any loss of sustained and burst data transfer performance.
However, high- performance flash drives are approaching SATA 3 Gbit/s transfer rate, and
this is being addressed with the SATA 6Gb/s interoperability standard.

5.3 SATA Revision 3.0 (SATA 6Gb/s)

Serial ATA International Organization presented the draft specification of SATA 6 Gbit/s
physical layer in July 2008,[and ratified its physical layer specification on August 18, 2008.
[
The full 3.0 standard (peak throughput about 600 MB/s ( 10b/8b coding plus 8 bit to one
byte, without the protocol, or encoding overhead) was released on May 27, 2009. While even
the fastest conventional hard disk drives can barely saturate the original SATA 1.5 Gbit/s
bandwidth, Solid-State Drives have already saturated the SATA 3 Gbit/s limit at 250 MB/s
net read speed. Ten channels of fast flash can reach well over 500 MB/s with new ONFI
drives, so a move from SATA 3 Gbit/s to SATA 6 Gbit/s would benefit the flash read speeds.
As for the standard hard disks, the reads from their built-in DRAM cache will end up faster
across the new interface. SATA 6 Gbit/s hard drives and Motherboards are now shipping
from several suppliers.

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The new specifications of SATA 3.0 are…..

 6 Gb/s for scalable performance when used with SSDs

 Continued compatibility with SAS, including SAS 6Gb/s. "A SAS domain may
support attachment to and control of unmodified SATA devices connected directly
into the SAS domain using the Serial ATA Tunneled Protocol (STP)" from the
SATA_Revision_3_0_Gold specification.
 Isochronous Streaming command Native Command Queuing (NCQ) streaming
command to enable isochronous quality of service data transfers for streaming digital
content applications.
 An NCQ Management feature that helps optimize performance by enabling host
processing and management of outstanding NCQ commands.
 Improved power management capabilities.
 A small low insertion force (LIF) connector for more compact 1.8-inch storage
devices.
 A connector designed to accommodate 7 mm optical disk drives for thinner and
lighter notebooks.
 Alignment with the INCITS ATA8-ACS standard.
 The enhancements are aimed at improving quality of service for video streaming and
high-priority interrupts. In addition, the standard continues to support distances up to
a meter. The new speeds may require higher power consumption for supporting chips,
factors that new process technologies and power management techniques are expected
to mitigate. The new specification can use existing SATA cables and Connectors,
although some OEMs are expected to upgrade host connectors for the higher speeds.
Also, the new standard is backwards compatible with SATA 3 Gbit/s.

CHAPTER 6

Layer Model & Topology

6.1 Serial ATA Communications Layer Model :

4 Application Layer

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3 Transport Layer

2 Link Layer

1 Physical Layer

SATA works in Application layer. Its model is similar to TCP/IP model.

That is all layers definition as TCP/IP model.

6.2 TOPOLOGY :

SATA uses a point-to-point architecture. The connection between the controller and the
storage device is direct.

Modern PC systems usually have a SATA controller on the motherboard, or installed in a PCI
or PCI Express slot. Most SATA controllers have multiple SATA ports and can be connected
to multiple storage devices. There are also port expanders or multipliers that allow multiple
storage devices to be connected to a single SATA controller port.

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6.3 Topology DFD

SATA provide less cable bulk. It communicate host bus adapter to mass storage device in
point to point topology.

Separate point-to-point AC-coupled LVDS links are used for physical Transmission between
host and drive.

CHAPTER 7

Features & Applications

Serial ATA Features……
 Low cost Implementation :
SATA provide low cost implementation because it provide less cable bulk
due to smaller size of cable ,connector & ports.
 Point-to-point connectivity :
SATA provide point-to-point topology for that data transmission becomes fast.
 Cyclical Redundancy Checking (CRC) on commands.
SATA gives CRC on command like NCQ(native command queuing).

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 Hot-plug/hot-swap support :
Hot swapping and hot plugging are terms used to describe the functions of
replacing system components without shutting down the system.More
specifically, hot swapping describes replacing components without significant
interruption to the system, while hot plugging describes the addition of
components that would expand the system without significant interruption to
the operation of the system.

Once the appropriate software is installed on the computer, a user can plug and
unplug the component without rebooting.A well-known example of this
functionality is the Universal Serial Bus (USB) that allows users to add or
remove peripheral components such as a mouse, keyboard, or printer.
 Highly efficient cabling, connectors, backplanes :
Connectors and cables present the most visible differences between SATA and
parallel ATA drives. Unlike PATA, the same connectors are used on 3.5-inch
SATA hard disks for desktop and server computers and 2.5-inch disks for
portable or small computers; this allows 2.5-inch drives to be used in desktop
computers with only a mounting bracket and no wiring adapter. Smaller disks
may use the mini-SATA spec,suitable for small-form-factor Serial ATA drives
and mini SSDs.
 The new CFast storage standard will be based on SATA.

CFast:- Compact Flash (CF) is a mass storage device format used in portable
electronic devices. For storage, Compact Flash typically uses flash memory in
a standardized enclosure.
The format was first specified and produced by SanDisk in 1994. The physical
format is now used for a variety of devices.

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7.1 COMPACT FLASH

Compact Flash became the most successful of the early memory card formats, outliving
Miniature Card, Smart Media, and PC Card Type I in mainstream popularity. The
memory card formats that came out after the introduction of Compact Flash, such as
SD/MMC, various Memory Stick formats, xD-Picture Card, offered stiff competition.
Most of these cards are significantly smaller than Compact flash while offering
comparable capacity and read/write speed. Professional memory cards, such as P2 & SxS,
are physically larger, faster, and significantly more expensive.
Compact Flash remains popular, and has even experienced something of a comeback.
For example, in 2008 Sony chose Compact Flash as the recording media for use in the HVR-
MRC1K tapeless video recorder instead of using smaller Memory Stick cards or expensive
SxS cards. In 2010 Canon chose CompactFlash as the recording media for use in the XF300
and XF305 high definition video cameras.

7.2 Serial ATA Applications……

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Game console

home networks

Motherboards

CD copier, DVD copier

PC’s , servers Set top Box PVR/DVR

 It uses in game consoles.

 It applies in communication in home networks.
 Mainly it is applicable in to reduce the cable bulk in PC , notebook ,laptops for
interfacing between motherboard & setup boxes, CD/DVD RW , storage
devices etc.
 It helps in communication between computer & external devices (like USB
flash drive , webcam, printer, mouse, keyboard etc).
 It helps in easy connectivity with internal & external drives with systems.

8. CONCLUSION

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This seminar report provide us how to interface system mother board & mass storage devices
& also why it is easy to use in connecting the peripherals devices.
SATA overcomes the limitations of parallel ATA by providing thinner cabling, smaller
connectors, lower voltage, and point-to-point signaling. Like its parallel predecessor, SATA
will dominate the desktop market because it offers desktop reliability, functionality, and
performance at a low cost.
SATA is beneficial in connecting external devices up to 1m distance which is costly &
lengthy for parallel ATA. In this report I also specify the version of SATA as well as types
of SATA with its connecting ports & cable length. I also specify the specify the external
SATA .I have also mention SATA speed for data transmission & the property of compact
Flash drive. This report provides the pictorial & tabular description of SATA connections,
Properties. Types & applications.

REFRENCES:-

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 www.wikipedia.org
 Serial ATA International Organization.htm
 Serial_ATA_(SATA,_Serial_Advanced_Technology_Attachment).htm
 www.sata-io.org
 http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-sata-or-serial-ata.htm

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