SATA

Connection Type

SATA is a connection type, typically by cable. PCIe is another connection type - directly on a motherboard. SATA can connect hard disk drives (HDD) or solid state drives (SSD).

Serial Advanced Technology Attachment - connection to devices such as memory drives.

Speeds: https://kb.sandisk.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/8142/~/difference-between-sata-i%2C-sata-ii-and-sata-iii

Up to 600 MB/sec (6 Gb/sec) for SATA 3 SSD.

Next Generation

Connecting to PCIe is much faster - 2GB/sec vs 600GB/sec max. So 3x out of the box, but really twice this because 2 slots are used. See more about SSD - [1]. $64 device for 3.4GB/sec read and 2.3GB/sec write.

HDD or SSD can use SATA cable. Only SSDs are made for PCIe - which is called NVMe.

In summary: an SSD plugged directly into the PCIe slot is called NVMe.

Sourcing

• Forget about SATA - go straight to - [2]