Native Command Queuing (NCQ) is a feature of the SATA technology that reduces the number of read/write head movements in a hard disk. This can increases the performance of the drive by limiting the number of drive head movements when multiple read/write requests are queued. NCQ queues up read/write commands and executes them in the most efficient order. To better explain this situation, imagine an elevator, in which two people enter simultaneously on the ground floor. The first pushes the 14th floor button and the second the 3rd floor. It would be counterproductive to go to the 14th floor and then to the 3rd floor. In the same way NCQ allows the drive itself to determine the optimal order in which to retrieve outstanding requests.
