SATA stands for Serial Advanced Technology Attachment and is a computer bus interface protocol that is typically used to connect to storage devices (such as hard drives) to the system.
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. Controllers released starting with the PXIe-8135 using SATA drives should be based on SATA III (as of 2015), but should be confirmed with product documentation or system BIOS settings. Newer embedded controllers typically leverage PCIe connections (NVMe) to connect to primary M.2 or U.2 drives.
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