Here's a more detailed explanation:
PATA stands for Parallel Advanced Technology Attachment and is an interface (connection) used to connect storage devices (primarily hard disk drives). This is an older interface where the data is transmitted to and from the HDD parallely. The Newer SATA (Serial ATA) transmits data serially. Although parallel transmission was considered to be faster, the newer SATA interface transmits data faster than the combined transmission speed of the all the lanes of the PATA interface. Hence, the newer hard disks come with the SATA interface. And the SATA cable also helps reduce obstruction to airflow compared to the flat ribbon cable used for PATA. This allows for efficient cooling of devices inside the case. Although SATA was designed for both Data and Power in the same cable, it is not perfected and today’s HDDs use a separate molex connector for power. These are the differences. If all the above sounded like gibberish, just know this that SATA is better and faster than PATA.