The Serial ATA International Organization (SATA-IO), which develops and maintains the Serial ATA specifications, has published the latest SATA 3.3 standard for storage devices. The new specifications allow the creation of storage devices with larger capacities, improve reliability and add additional flexibility. The new SATA 3.3 specs are available free of charge for SATA-IO members while other parties can get them for a fee.
The most important improvement in the new SATA 3.3 standard is that now SATA supports the Shingled Magnetic Recording (SMR) technology, which promises to enable the creation of a new generation of hard drives with very large capacities. SATA 3.3 also supports the so-called Power Disable function, which allows users to manage the power consumption of SATA devices from afar – something that will be very useful in data centers for example. Lastly the new standard solves multiple compatibility and reliability issues compared to older SATA versions.
The first SATA 3.3-enabled devices will likely appear before the year’s end.
Source: SATA-IO