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Most SATA-based hard drives don't have any jumpers that need to be set. They also don't create a master/slave relationship between drives, as other methods did.
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Each hard drive operates on its own independent SATA channel. There are currently six versions of SATA: SATA Version Speed Notes SATA 1 and 1.5 1.5 Gbits/s SATA 2 3 Gbits/s SATA 3 6 Gbits/s SATA 3.1 6 Gbit/s Also known as mSATA SATA 3.2 16 Gbits/s Also known as SATA M.2 SATA 1.5, SATA 2 and SATA 3 devices are interchangeable.
You can connect a SATA 1.5 hard drive to a SATA 3 interface, and the drive will work just fine, although only at the slower 1.5 Gbits/s speed. The reverse is also true. If you connect a SATA 3 hard drive to a SATA 1.5 interface it will work, but only at the reduced speed of the SATA 1.5 interface.
SATA interfaces are primarily used on drives and removable media drives, such as CD and DVD writers. SATA Versions Used in Recent Macs Apple has used various types of interfaces between Mac’s processors and its storage system.