SCSI / ATA translation

With SCSI / ATA Translation , short- SAT , is a standard for implementation of SCSI commands into ATA commands by the SCSI / ATA Translation Layer , shortly SATL referred.

The standard is particularly important in the context of Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) , since in addition to SAS hard disks, Serial ATA hard disks can also be used there.

Among other things, the mapping of the essential SCSI commands such as INQUIRY, READ and WRITE to the corresponding ATA commands is specified. ATA PASS-THROUGH commands are also specified for direct access. This makes it possible to address SCSI-incompatible ATA functionality directly, for example the ATA variant of SMART .

The SAT specification describes how the individual SCSI commands must look. These were adopted from previous SCSI documents, such as SCSI Block Commands or SCSI Multimedia Commands. The commands are therefore not redefined, but only re-specified on an ATA layer. Often bits that are used in the "real" SCSI commands remain unused. Not all commands and command types are defined either.

The first version of the standard was published as ANSI INCITS 431-2007. SAT-2 is already in the approval phase, SAT-3 is in the draft phase.

Web links

• Overview of SAT standards (the draft standards have not been freely accessible since 2009)