MSATA PCI controllers

mSATA

— the presence of at least one mSATA connector on the controller board.

mSATA is a smaller version of the SATA connector that differs from the full-size version only in shape and size. Recall that SATA in different versions is used to connect hard drives, as well as individual models of SSD drives (usually low-cost ones that do not differ in speed). In PCI controllers, for a number of reasons, this interface has not been widely used; therefore, mSATA is extremely rare — in single RAID modules (see "Type"), designed for miniature form factors.

Note that mSATA connectors are very similar to mini PCI-E slots, but these interfaces are not compatible.