In regards to an ATA card or an ATA hard drive, what do the letters ATA stand for?
Advanced Technology Attachment.
AT Attachment.
“AT” stands for Advanced Technology. The term is amusing now, as AT refers to IBM’s IBM PC-AT or Personal Computer Advanced Technology. It was their first PC to ship with an internal hard drive.
Another synonymous term is IDE, or Integrated Drive Electronics. IDE / ATA was a breakthrough in that the drive controller was moved to the drive itself, requiring a relatively simple connection to the motherboard. Previously, drives used technologies such as RLL or MFM, and required dedicated controller cards.