SATA stands for Serial Advanced Technology Attachment.
SATA I is the first generation SATA interface, and it runs at 1.5 Gb/s, although the actual bandwidth throughput is up to 150MB/s, due to 8b/10b encoding.
SATA II is a second generation SATA interface, and it runs at 3.0 Gb/s, although the actual bandwidth throughput is up to 300MB/s, due to 8b/10b encoding.
SATA III is a third generation SATA interface, and it runs at 6.0Gb/s, although the actual bandwidth throughput is up to 600MB/s, due to 8b/10b encoding.
SATA is completely forward and backward compatible. SATA II specifications provide backward compatibility to function on SATA I ports. SATA III specifications provide backward compatibility to function on SATA I and SATA II ports. However, the maximum speed of the drive will be slower due to the lower speed limitations of the port. This means that a SATA I controller will work with a SATA II drive, but the speed will be limited to 1.5 Gb/s, for example. In addition, a SATA II controller will work with a SATA I drive but again with speed limited to 1.5 Gb/s. The same concept goes for SATA III with SATA I or SATA II.
The list below is current as of 2010 and will not be updated. Any controller released after the PXIe-8135 should be SATA III (as of 2015), but it's a good idea to confirm via BIOS settings prior to making that assumption.
Controllers with SATA I support:
- NI PXI-8104
- NI PXI(e)-8105
- NI PXI(e)-8106
- NI PXI-8119
Controllers with SATA II support:
- NI PXI(e)-8101
- NI PXI(e)-8102
- NI PXI(e)-8108
- NI PXI-8110
- NI PXIe-8130
- NI PXIe-8133