How to make Difference between SATA and PATA

Serial Advanced Technology Attachment is a serial interface standard used to control and transfer data from mass storage devices such as hard disk drives and optical drives. 

Advantages of SATA 

• SATA uses long and thin cables which are less bulky and fragile than the old Parallel ATA cables.
• It uses 7-pin data connector as compared to the 40-pin connector in Parallel ATA.
• The old PATA cables were bulkier which block airflow and induce heat in the motherboard. SATA cables are easy to install and gives more space for other cables to be installed on the motherboard.
• The data speed varies in the range 1.5 Gbps to 6.0 Gbps.
• Its transfer  rate is  7200 Mbps

ATA - Advanced Technology Attachmentor PATA - Parallel Advanced Technology Attachment

Advanced Technology Attachment is an Interface standard for connecting storage devices like Hard Drive, CD-ROM or floppy drives to Motherboard interfaces. Normally, a 40-pin connector is used to make such type of connections. 

The length of the cable in PATA can go up to 18 inches, limiting the use of interface for internal computer storage only. For many years, it remained the first choice of the hardware manufacturers, due to its low cost and reliable speed. An interface can provide a speed of upto 100 Mbps.

ATA was preceded by Serial ATA in 2003. With the introduction of Serial ATA, Basic Advanced Technology Attachment (ATA) was renamed as Parallel ATA(PATA).Its transfer rate is 5200 Mbps