What is SATA anyway?
SATA stands for Serial Advanced Technology Attachment. It is an interface for data transfer between storage media (e.g. hard disks or SSDs) and computers or servers. The decisive advantage over the older Parallel ATA (PATA) standard lies in the serial transmission, which enables higher speeds and requires fewer cables and pins.
According to ComputerWeek, the technology was developed to meet the increasing demands on data transfer rates. While PATA had to make do with a maximum of 133 MB/s, the first generations started at 150 MB/s and increased to up to 600 MB/s with generation three. In most cases, this speed is still perfectly adequate for everyday business use.
The interfaces generally use a simple seven-pin cable for data transmission and a separate power cable – which not only improves the airflow in the housing, but also makes maintenance in server racks easier. This cable and port efficiency is a clear advantage over older solutions, especially for large storage arrays.
SATA in everyday B2B life: a solid basis instead of hype
IT investments must remain economically viable, especially in the B2B sector. Not every company needs the extreme speeds or IOPS values (Input/Output Operations Per Second) that NVMe or PCIe-based SSDs offer. This is where SATA comes into its own:
- Cost savings:
SATA SSDs are significantly cheaper per gigabyte than NVMe models. For large storage capacities in servers or storage systems, this can quickly lead to considerable savings. - Compatibility:
The technology can be used universally. Both older and new systems support the interface, which facilitates integration and migration. - Reliability:
For many workloads – such as archiving, backup, file servers or less latency-critical databases – SATA offers sufficient speed with high stability.
As Lenovo explains, SATA is still widely used because it simply “works”. The technology has been tried and tested for over two decades, making it a safe choice for companies that value mature solutions.
Another argument: MTBF (Mean Time Between Failures) – i.e. the average downtime – is sometimes over 1.5 million hours for high-quality SSDs. This means very high operational reliability, especially for constantly running systems in continuous operation such as video surveillance, archive servers or system monitoring.
The different generations at a glance
Especially in the B2B context, it is worth knowing the differences between the standards. Here is a brief overview:
SATA I (1.5 Gbit/s): First generation, rarely still in use.
SATA II (3.0 Gbit/s): Improved speed and new functions such as Native Command Queuing (NCQ).
SATA III (6.0 Gbit/s): Current standard, up to 600 MB/s transfer rate.
With the introduction of NCQ in the second generation, an important foundation was laid for modern multi-threading applications. NCQ allows the drive to process commands in an optimized sequence, which leads to better performance, especially in multi-user systems and when database processes are accessed in parallel. This function is also fully retained in generation three.
The third generation is still sufficient for many applications today, such as large file servers, NAS systems or backup solutions. The technology really comes into its own with sequential data access – typical for backup or streaming.
SATA vs. NVMe: Does it always have to be the fastest?
NVMe is undoubtedly the top dog when it comes to maximum speed. Anyone who operates databases with extremely high transaction rates or hosts virtual machines on a large scale will appreciate the advantages of NVMe. But especially in the B2B segment, the question is often: is the extra cost worth it?
Not every workload benefits from the higher performance. Many classic company applications such as office file servers, e-mail archives or DMS systems (document management) do not require gigantic data rates. Here, SATA remains an extremely attractive solution.
A typical practical example: In a medium-sized company with around 100 employees, around 10 TB of backup data is stored every week. Here, SATA-based systems offer an optimum ratio of storage capacity to price – without speed becoming a bottleneck.
In 2023, over 40% of German companies will still primarily rely on SATA hard disks and SSDs for their on-premises storage solutions – especially for long-term data storage and backup.
Energy consumption also plays a role: the drives generally consume less power than higher-performance NVMe drives. In data centers, this can mean considerable cost savings across many drives.
This point is becoming increasingly important, especially when it comes to green IT. While NVMe SSDs often require active cooling due to their high performance, SATA solutions usually manage without additional measures – which not only saves energy, but also reduces the overall complexity of the infrastructure.
Conclusion: Back to basics is worth it!
Especially in the B2B environment, technology should not only shine on paper, but also be economical and reliable. SATA may seem old compared to NVMe, but it is still a solid, cost-conscious basis for numerous business applications. Anyone looking at all the options for a hardware refresh should by no means write off SATA prematurely.
If you want to achieve the ideal balance between performance and costs, you can rely on tiered storage architectures – i.e. systems that combine fast NVMe SSDs for real-time access and slower SATA SSDs for cold storage. In this way, modern requirements can be efficiently solved with proven technology.
Discover the variety of spo-comm Mini-PCs, whether with SATA, NVMe or both:
