Course 1: Storage Device Overview
Read the instructional content and review the infographic to learn about the SATA data and power connectors. When complete, click the Next buttons to move onto the next lesson.
Lesson 1: SATA Data and Power Connectors
Both storage devices connect to the laptop internally via the same two connectors; the SATA data and SATA power connectors.
The SATA (Serial Advanced Technology Attachment) was introduced in 2003. The SATA data and power connectors are located next to each other on both the hard drive and solid-state drive. The SATA power connector, which provides power to the storage device, is the larger connector on the left; and the SATA data connector, which transmits data to and from the storage device, is the smaller connector on the right.
Although the physical connectors have remained the same since the introduction of the SATA standard, the data transfer speeds have increased. The first revision, SATA 1.0, transferred data at 1.5 Gbit/s (Gigabits per second), and the current revision, SATA 3.0, transfers data at 6 Gbit/s (Gigabits per second).