
270 The Essential Guide to Serial ATA and SATA Express
5.4 Primitive s
Table 5.2 defines and describes all SATA primitives.
Table 5.2 SATA Primitives and Their Descriptions
Primitive Name Description Usage
ALIGN Physical layer control
Upon receipt of an ALIGN, the physical layer readjusts
internal operations as necessary to perform its functions
correctly. This primitive is always sent in pairs; there is
no condition where an odd number of ALIGN primitives
will be sent (except as noted for retimed loopback).
Repeated
CONT
Continue repeating
previous primitive
The CONT primitive allows long strings of repeated
primitives to be eliminated. The CONT primitive ...