page_title: Parallel ATA
section_title: External parallel ATA devices
hierarchical_section_title: Parallel ATA / Parallel ATA interface / External parallel ATA devices
caption_attribution_description: English: LG Super Multi GSA-E40N - PATA 2 USB Adapter
context_page_description: Parallel ATA, originally AT Attachment, is an interface standard for the connection of storage devices such as hard disk drives, floppy disk drives, and optical disc drives in computers. The standard is maintained by the X3/INCITS committee. It uses the underlying AT Attachment and AT Attachment Packet Interface standards.
  The Parallel ATA standard is the result of a long history of incremental technical development, which began with the original AT Attachment interface, developed for use in early PC AT equipment. The ATA interface itself evolved in several stages from Western Digital's original Integrated Drive Electronics interface. As a result, many near-synonyms for ATA/ATAPI and its previous incarnations are still in common informal use, in particular Extended IDE and Ultra ATA. After the introduction of Serial ATA in 2003, the original ATA was renamed to Parallel ATA, or PATA for short.
  Parallel ATA cables have a maximum allowable length of 18 in. Because of this limit, the technology normally appears as an internal computer storage interface. For many years, ATA provided the most common and the least expensive interface for this application.
context_section_description: Due to a short cable length specification and shielding issues it is extremely uncommon to find external PATA devices that directly use PATA for connection to a computer. A device connected externally needs additional cable length to form a U-shaped bend so that the external device may be placed alongside, or on top of the computer case, and the standard cable length is too short to permit this.  For ease of reach from motherboard to device, the connectors tend to be positioned towards the front edge of motherboards, for connection to devices protruding from the front of the computer case. This front-edge position makes extension out the back to an external device even more difficult. Ribbon cables are poorly shielded, and the standard relies upon the cabling to be installed inside a shielded computer case to meet RF emissions limits.
  External hard disk drives or optical disk drives that have an internal PATA interface, use some other interface technology to bridge the distance between the external device and the computer. USB is the most common external interface, followed by Firewire. A bridge chip inside the external devices converts from the USB interface to PATA, and typically only supports a single external device without cable select or master/slave.
caption: PATA to USB Adapter. It is mounted on the rear of a DVD-RW optical drive inside an external case
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