What is SATA?

OK, first off, I am not a media freak, so I only need/have a single 120GB HDD. Because of this, I have never used ''SATA'', and don't know anything about it. I know my hard drive and motherboard supports it, but can anyone tell me what it is, what the benefits are, and how to set it up?Thanks.What is SATA?
SATA is just a new way to connect peripherals that is faster with less cable clutter. I think it is great.What is SATA?
Already summed up fairly well - the speed increases are generally minor (or non-existant in the case of optical drives), but the bigger attraction is from the ease-of-use (no more master-slave jumper settings or cabling), the much cleaner look of the cables (and increased airflow because of their size), and the fact that it's fast becoming the new standard. Most new power supplies come with at least two SATA power cables, and motherboards are rarely supporting more than one IDE slot these days, wheras they often have more than four SATA ports. Granted, it's only one SATA device per port (there might be a way to share a device, although I doubt you'll need to), but with the wealth of ports available, you shouldn't run into any problems with not enough. If you do, there are SATA PCI cards available for a very cheap price.