Hardware Reference
In-Depth Information
OEMtoOEM,thuscloudingthestandardsomewhat.MostATAdrivemanufacturerspub-
lish their drive-formatting/initialization software on their websites.
As I noted at the start of this chapter, PATA is a 16-bit parallel interface that is being
phased out in favor of the serial interface of SATA. SATA's thinner and smaller cables
providehigherperformanceduetothehighercyclingspeedsallowedandareconsiderably
easier to work with than the wide PATA ribbon cables.
Figure 7.1
shows how the power
and data cables SATA uses compare in size to those PATA uses.
Figure 7.1
SATA data cables are much smaller than those used by PATA, whereas the power cables are
similar in size.
ATA Standards
Today, the ATA interface is controlled by an independent group of representatives from
majorPC,drive,andcomponentmanufacturers.ThisgroupiscalledTechnicalCommittee
T13 (
www.t13.org
)
and is responsible for all standards relating to the Parallel and Serial
ATAstorageinterfaces.T13isapartoftheInternationalCommitteeonInformationTech-
nology Standards (INCITS), which operates under rules approved by the American Na-
tional Standards Institute (ANSI), a governing body that sets rules that control nonpro-
prietary standards in the computer industry as well as many other industries. A second
groupcalledtheSerialATAInternationalOrganization(
www.serialata.org
)
wasformedto
initially create the SATA standards, which are then passed on to the T13 Committee for
