With data transfer speed pushing the limitations of parallel data transfer, increasing the likelihood of of not-so-parallel data transfer (read: data loss), serial counterparts are on the rise throughout computer architecture. Here is a quick overview of SAS and SATA for anyone who has managed to miss out on what these technologies are supposed to do. But remember this: SATA is not faster than PATA, it just has more bandwidth than PATA. The harddrives themselves are still the limiting factors in the storage bottleneck.