(Parallel ATA) Refers to the original IDE hard drive technology that uses a parallel data channel from the motherboard to the disk drives. After Serial ATA (SATA) drives became popular, the PATA term was coined to refer to parallel IDE drives, which are still widely used. ATA (AT Attachment) is the official name for the IDE drive interface; therefore, IDE, EIDE (Enhanced IDE) and PATA are synonymous. See IDE and SATA.
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