Windows Server 2019 Administration Fundamentals - Second Edition

Understanding serial bus technologies

For data transmission, parallel and serial transmissions are used. In parallel transmissions, a string of 8 bits is usually transmitted at a time, which is equal to 1 byte. In contrast, in serial transmissions, only 1-bit is usually transmitted at a given time. Even though more bits are transmitted through parallel transmission, serial transmission is the most widely used in storage technologies. This is because disk controllers tend to handle only 1-bit at a given time, meaning that the disk's read-and-write head reads and writes 1-bit within the given time. Thus, the serial method of transmission has proved to be more pragmatic by eliminating overhead processing, signal skewing, and crosstalk. That ...