it would take the better part of a year to read all the Advanced HDD Issues thread (and links )
there is effectively no performance difference between the two currently, slight advantages in efficiency (depending on the chipset and HDD) potential advantages to data integrity if implemented properly (see the Caution sticky)
niether a single PATA or SATA HDD can saturate either interface
depending on the HDD being 60 to 30 MB/s Sustained Transfer Rate (600 to 300Mbps just as the interfaces are 1000Mbps\100MB/s and 1500Mbps\150MB/s respectively and those are simply burst rates)
for the quick answer As the Hard Disc Spins Chapter III: Effective Host Transfer Rates Interface Speed as Basis for Classification
but in truth you should really start at the beginning