The full form of ATA is Advanced Technology Attachment. ATA was renamed to Parallel Advanced Technology Attachment after the introduction of Serial Advanced Technology Attachment. A link with storage devices, including hard drives, optical drives, solid-state drives, and CD-ROMs, to the motherboard, is authorised via the ATA standard physical interface. ATA standards only permit cables up to 18 inches in length, allowing ATA to operate internally. It is designed to establish a connection with portable storage devices without utilising an external controller.
Due to its widespread acceptance and inexpensive cost, ATA enables the use of a fast speed. Its basic components are cable buses and thin wires. The ATA acquisitions can be modified in reverse. This suggests that every new version of ATA or updated ATA drives can be used with ATA interfaces that have been around for a while.
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Background
The original ATA version was developed in 1986 by a firm called Western Digital. The attachment initially only functioned with hard discs, but eventually, a standard was established that allowed it to function with a variety of other devices, most frequently those that used removable media. In general, these gadgets consist of CD-ROMs, tape drives, and huge-capacity floppy drives, such as Zip and SuperDisk drives. This system was renamed Parallel ATA when SATA was introduced in early 2003.
Moving programmed input/output to direct memory access was a significant breakthrough in the history of ATA. PIO was not functioning correctly and required a significant amount of processing power from the computer’s CPU when transferring and accessing data in computer devices. This meant that systems built around ATA devices generally handled disk-related tasks far more casually than PCs using SCSI or other interfaces. However, DMA significantly reduced the amount of time the CPU needed to prepare for searching and creating the discs.
ATA Standards
- ATA, ATA-1, and IDE:
First created by Control Data Corporation, Western Digital and Compaq, it had an 8-bit or 16-bit interface with an exchange rate of up to 8.3 MBps and with PIO modes 0, 1, and 2 support. Today, ATA and ATA-1 are no longer in use.
- ATA-2, EIDE, Fast ATA, Fast IDE, or Ultra ATA:
ATA-2 commonly termed EIDE, Fast ATA or Fast IDE, is a code accepted by ANSI in 1996 under report number X3.279-1996. ATA-2 presented new PIO methods 3 and 4, with an exchange rate of up to 16.6 MBps, DMA modes 1 and 2, LBA backing, and a support drive of up to 8.4 GB. Today, ATA-2 is also no longer in use.
- ATA-3 and EIDE:
ATA-3 is a standard endorsed by ANSI in 1997 under report number X3.298-1997. ATA-3 included extra security characteristics and the new S.M.A.R.T function.
- ATA-4, ATAPI-4, and ATA/ATAPI-4:
ATA-4 is a standard certified by ANSI in 1998 under-report NCITS 317-1998. ATA-4 incorporates ATAPI packet commands and presents UDMA/33, also termed ultra-DMA/33 or ultra-ATA/33, which underpins the information exchange rate of up to 33 MBps.
- ATA-5 and ATA/ATAPI-5:
ATA-5 is a standard authorized by ANSI in 2000 under-report NCITS 340-2000. ATA-5 includes support for Ultra-DMA/66, which is fit for supporting the information transfer rate of up to 66 MBps and can distinguish between 40 or 80-wire links.
- ATA-6 and ATA/ATAPI-6:
ATA-6 is a standard allowed by ANSI in 2001 under-report NCITS 347-2001. ATA-6 included aid for Ultra-DMA/100 and has an exchange rate of up to 100 MBps.