The SATA interface, short for Serial ATA, is a storage-interface computer bus used to connect storage devices like hard drives and optical drives (DVD/CD drives) to the host bus adapter. Most modern motherboards for both desktops and laptops have an integrated SATA host adapter, and it replaces the older, legacy ATA (also known as Parallel ATA, simply ATA, or EIDE).

A SATA hard drive is one which makes use of this newer technology. Many new internal hard drives being produced are SATA. External hard drives may also fit the specifications through the use of eSATA, the related standard for external connectivity. The original SATA standard has up to 1.5 Gbit/s data transfer speeds, while the more recent SATA II option allows 3.0 Gbit/s transfers. There is a new third generation standard, released in 2009, which is known as SATA 3.0 and pushes maximum data transfers up to 6.0 Gbit/s.

SATA hard drive capacity options are plentiful, with the highest widely available drives at the time of writing in the 2 TB (2000 GB) range. Common RPM stats in SATA hard drives include 5400 RPM, 7200 RPM, and 10000 RPM. Frequent buffer memory amounts are 8 MB, 16 MB, and 32 MB.

eSATA for external drives

Some people prefer the external option for SATA technology. You can continue reading about eSATA, which is used for external hard drives.

Recovery

Hard drive recovery can be an expensive proposition. Read about potential disk failures, some methods that can be used to attempt data recovery, and more information here.

Additional considerations With a wide variety of SATA hard drive selections, you can choose between different brands, models, capacities, and certain technical specifications, as well as go price shopping to find bigger deals and bargains. There may be cheap SATA hard drives that still fit the requirements you're looking for in your personal computer or laptop.