Parallel ATA
![](/Images/godic/202501/20/PATA-cable4436.jpg")
![Example of a 1992 80386 PC motherboard with nothing built in other than memory, keyboard, processor, cache, realtime clock, and slots. Such basic motherboards could have been outfitted with either the ST-506 or ATA interface, but usually not both. A single 2-drive ATA interface and a floppy interface was added to this system via the 16-bit ISA card.](/Images/godic/202501/20/1992_80386_PC_AMD_386DX-40_no_onboard_IDE_floppy_serial_parallel_sound_video_or_network4436.jpg")
![An Oak Technology Mozart 16 16-bit ISA sound card, from when the CDROM drive interface had not yet been standardized. This card offers four separate interface connectors for IDE, Panasonic, Mitsumi, and Sony CDROM drives, but only one connector could be used since they all shared the same interface wiring.](/Images/godic/202501/20/SC_OAK_OTI601_Mozart4436.jpg")
![A SoundBlaster 32 16-bit ISA sound card, from after connector standardization had occurred, with just an IDE interface for the CDROM drive.](/Images/godic/202501/20/Soundblaster324436.jpg")
Parallel ATA (PATA), 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 (ATA) and AT Attachment Packet Interface (ATAPI) standards.