Live prices for both sides:SAS hard drives,SATA hard drives andthe HBAs SAS needs.
Live price comparison, feature breakdown, and buying recommendations for enterprise SAS and SATA hard drives.
Choose SATA if: your machine has SATA ports and no SAS controller - most desktops, and many NAS boxes. A SAS drive will not run on a SATA controller.
On price, matched at the same capacity and condition: new drives: SATA costs 32% more per terabyte than SAS, averaged over 8 capacities where both are in stock; used and refurbished drives: SATA costs 29% more per terabyte than SAS, averaged over 10 capacities where both are in stock.
For reference, the cheapest terabyte anywhere today (a level, not a comparison - any capacity, any condition): SAS $14.99/TB, SATA $24.76/TB.
Choose SAS if: you need dual-port for dual-controller arrays, 10K RPM 2.5" drives, or mission-critical SAN deployments.
Most homelab and SMB machines have SATA ports only, which decides it before price does.
| Capacity | SAS new $/TB | SATA new $/TB | SAS used $/TB | SATA used $/TB |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1TB | — | $100.07 | $14.99 | $43.59 |
| 1.2TB | $45.83 | — | $44.17 | — |
| 1.8TB | $80.56 | — | $61.11 | — |
| 2TB | $55.00 | $50.00 | $34.49 | $29.95 |
| 3TB | $23.00 | $48.33 | $15.13 | $26.00 |
| 4TB | $17.00 | $49.49 | $18.60 | $24.76 |
| 6TB | $41.50 | $41.50 | $25.00 | $28.33 |
| 8TB | $32.75 | $31.25 | $30.63 | $28.75 |
| 10TB | $38.45 | $37.17 | $23.50 | $29.99 |
| 12TB | $38.76 | $29.17 | $30.00 | $28.29 |
| 14TB | $41.53 | $40.29 | $26.36 | $25.29 |
| 16TB | — | $43.72 | $34.28 | $29.37 |
| 18TB | — | $41.94 | — | $25.56 |
| 20TB | — | $32.50 | — | $31.50 |
| 22TB | — | $47.51 | — | $31.02 |
| 24TB | — | $45.83 | — | $32.46 |
| 32TB | — | $41.87 | — | — |
| Feature | SAS | SATA |
|---|---|---|
| Max speed | 12Gb/s | 6Gb/s |
| Dual-port | ✓ Standard | ✗ Not available |
| 10K RPM | ✓ (2.5” SFF) | ✗ Max 7200 |
| Hot swap | ✓ | ✓ (with backplane) |
| Controller | SAS HBA required | Native on all boards |
| Compatibility | SAS ports and backplanes also take SATA drives | SATA ports cannot run a SAS drive |
| RAID safe | ✓ CMR only | ✓ CMR (check model) |
| Workload rating | Up to 550TB/yr | Up to 550TB/yr |
| Form factor | 3.5" and 2.5" | 3.5" primarily |
| Best use | SAN, dual-ctrl NAS | Single-ctrl NAS, bulk |
Sequential writes at 6Gb/s are plenty. Maximize capacity per dollar.
10K RPM 2.5” SAS drives offer lower latency than any 7200 RPM disk.
High capacity SATA drives handle streaming writes at minimal cost.
| $/TB | Drive | Capacity | Condition | Price | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $14.99 | HP ST31000640SS 1TB SAS | 1TB | used | $14.99 | Buy on Amazon |
| $15.13 | HGST HUS724030ALS640 3TB SAS 6G | 3TB | used | $45.39 | Buy on Amazon |
| $16.00 | Seagate Constellation ES.2 3TB SAS Enterprise | 3TB | used | $48.00 | Buy on Amazon |
| $17.00 | HP 695842-001 4TB SAS 6G | 4TB | new | $68.00 | Buy on Amazon |
| $18.33 | HGST Ultrastar HUS723030ALS640 3TB SAS 6G | 3TB | used | $55.00 | Buy on Amazon |
| $18.60 | Seagate Enterprise Capacity 4TB SAS 12G 512n | 4TB | used | $74.39 | Buy on Amazon |
| $19.84 | HP MB3000FBUCN 3TB SAS 6G | 3TB | used | $59.53 | Buy on Amazon |
| $20.00 | MDD 3TB SAS 6G 7200RPM | 3TB | used | $59.99 | Buy on Amazon |
| $/TB | Drive | Capacity | Condition | Price | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $24.76 | WD Red Plus 4TB WD40EFZX | 4TB | used | $99.03 | Buy on Amazon |
| $25.29 | Toshiba MG07ACA14TE 14TB SATA Enterprise | 14TB | used | $354.00 | Buy on Amazon |
| $25.56 | WD Purple 18TB WD180PURZ | 18TB | used | $459.99 | Buy on Amazon |
| $25.71 | MDD 14TB SATA 6G 7200RPM 256MB Enterprise | 14TB | used | $359.99 | Buy on Amazon |
| $26.00 | Seagate BarraCuda 3TB ST3000DM001 | 3TB | used | $78.00 | Buy on Amazon |
| $26.50 | WD Purple 4TB WD40PURX | 4TB | used | $106.00 | Buy on Amazon |
| $27.14 | WD Ultrastar 14TB SATA WUH721414ALE604 | 14TB | used | $379.99 | Buy on Amazon |
| $27.86 | WD Ultrastar 14TB SATA WUH721414ALE604 | 14TB | used | $389.99 | Buy on Amazon |
Yes. SAS backplanes are backward compatible with SATA drives. You can plug a SATA HDD into a SAS slot and it will work at SATA speeds (6Gb/s). However, the reverse is not true — SAS drives will not work in a SATA-only controller or backplane.
At the enterprise level, annual failure rates (AFR) are similar between SAS and SATA drives from the same product tier. Both Seagate Exos and WD Ultrastar lines offer similar reliability regardless of interface. The real reliability advantage of SAS is dual-port failover in dual-controller arrays, not the drive mechanism itself.
Yes for spinning disks. A 7200 RPM hard drive maxes out around 250 MB/s sequential, well within the 600 MB/s ceiling of SAS-6G. You only need SAS-12G if you plan to use SAS SSDs or want extra headroom for multi-drive expander topologies.
The most popular choices are the LSI 9300-8i (12Gb/s IT-mode HBA), Dell PERC H730/H330 (flashed to IT mode for ZFS), and Broadcom 9400-8i. For homelab use, an LSI 9207-8i (SAS-6G) can be found for under $30 on eBay and works perfectly with spinning disks.
Seagate Exos (formerly Constellation) and WD/HGST Ultrastar dominate the enterprise SAS market. MDD also sells rebranded/recertified enterprise drives at lower prices. Toshiba MG series offers SAS options as well, primarily in the nearline segment.