The new storage interface maintains backward compatibility with the SATA 3 Gb/second and SATA 1.5 Gb/second interfaces, and use the same cables and connectors as previous SATA generations to ease integration. The third generation of the mainstream storage interface for desktop and notebook computers also enhances power efficiency and improves Native Command Queuing, a SATA feature, to increase overall system performance and data transfer speeds of mainstream PC applications but especially applications with heavily transactional workloads such as scientific modeling and forecasting, and engineering design and simulation.
“The increasing reliance of consumers and businesses worldwide on digital information is giving rise to gaming, digital video and audio, streaming video, graphics and other applications that require even more bandwidth, driving demand for PC interfaces that can carry even more digital content,” said Joan Motsinger, Seagate vice president of Personal Systems Marketing and Strategy. “The SATA 6Gb/second storage interface will meet this demand for higher-bandwidth PCs. Seagate has a long history of being first to market with new technologies such as Serial ATA, perpendicular recording and self-encrypting drives, and is pleased to be teaming with AMD to stage the world’s first public demonstration of SATA 6Gb/second storage.”
“AMD strives to deliver platform technology that our technology partners can use to create high- performance desktop and laptop PCs,” said Leslie Sobon, vice president of Product Marketing, AMD. “The new SATA 6Gb/second technology not only incorporates the best features of previous SATA generations but also includes new enhancements. This innovation enables AMD to continue to evolve its technology platforms and to develop low-cost designs that our technology partners can use to improve their own PC and laptop products.”
The Seagate and AMD demonstration features two Seagate SATA disk drives – one a shipping Barracuda 7200.12 3 Gb/second hard drive and the other a prototype Barracuda 6 Gb/second drive in a desktop PC to show the performance difference between the two generations. The PC is powered by an AMD prototype SATA 6 Gb/second chipset. The Seagate SATA 3Gb/second drive runs at more than 2.5Gigabits per second and the SATA 6Gb/second drive at 5.5Gigabits per second, with the performance of each storage interface displayed on the PC monitor.
Serial ATA 6 Gb/second: Blazing speed for next-generation personal computing Serial ATA (SATA), the mainstream storage interface for desktop and notebook disk drives, is currently available in two speeds: 3 Gb/second and 1.5 Gb/second. SATA 6 Gb/second was developed by the Serial ATA International Organization (SATA-IO) under the Serial ATA Revision 3.0 specification.
In keeping with SATA-IO objectives for designing a low-cost interface for desktop and notebook PCs, SATA 6 Gb/second maintains the low cost and low-power design requirements of previous SATA generations, and is designed to be backward compatible with SATA 3 Gb/second connectors, cables and other hardware.
