Single-word DMA was only used in the original ATA standard from the very late 80s. Multi word DMA came after with ATA 2. Both of these also used Programmed input output modes, which quite frankly I dont understand so if you know anything about those please share

I admit I forgot about serial regarding the ATA 7 standard so that'll be quicker. Is SATA II also included the ATA 7?

And just to mop up, I mentioned DMA speeds because as far as I'm aware that was how the informal naming came about. ATA 4's top DMA speed was 33.3MBps hence ATA33. Having said that I'm not even sure if it is an 'informal' naming scheme, maybe its an official name


oh and one last thing. Any ideas what the SATA burst rate actually refers to? What does it physically mean to the data transfer?