Live price comparison, feature breakdown, and buying recommendations for enterprise SAS and SATA hard drives.
Choose SATA if: you're building NAS, backup storage, or bulk data on a budget. SATA drives cost $8.25/TB vs $11.33/TB for SAS — 27% cheaper.
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 buyers: SATA is the right choice.
| Capacity | Best SAS $/TB | Best SATA $/TB | Savings |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1TB | $14.99 | — | \u2014 |
| 1.2TB | $33.33 | — | \u2014 |
| 1.8TB | $32.22 | — | \u2014 |
| 2TB | $17.00 | $22.50 | SAS wins |
| 3TB | $11.33 | $20.00 | SAS wins |
| 4TB | $12.50 | $25.00 | SAS wins |
| 6TB | $11.67 | $26.67 | SAS wins |
| 8TB | $18.75 | $8.25 | 56% cheaper |
| 10TB | $14.00 | $22.50 | SAS wins |
| 12TB | $21.85 | $19.17 | 12% cheaper |
| 14TB | $19.64 | $17.14 | 13% cheaper |
| 16TB | $23.40 | $16.87 | 28% cheaper |
| 18TB | $17.78 | $17.17 | 3% cheaper |
| 20TB | $15.50 | $16.40 | SAS wins |
| 22TB | $17.27 | $17.54 | SAS wins |
| 24TB | — | $17.92 | \u2014 |
| 30TB | — | $40.00 | \u2014 |
| 32TB | — | $36.25 | \u2014 |
| 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 | SATA works in SAS | Not in SAS slots |
| 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 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $11.33 | MDD 3TB SAS 6G 7200RPM | 3TB | new | $33.99 | Buy → |
| $11.63 | Seagate Constellation ES.2 3TB SAS | 3TB | used | $34.90 | Buy → |
| $11.67 | Seagate 3TB Enterprise Capacity SAS 6G | 3TB | used | $35.00 | Buy → |
| $11.67 | Dell NWCCG 6TB SAS 6G NL Renewed | 6TB | used | $69.99 | Buy → |
| $12.00 | Seagate ST3000NM0023 3TB SAS 6G 7.2K | 3TB | used | $36.00 | Buy → |
| $12.50 | HGST 4TB SAS 12G LFF Renewed | 4TB | used | $49.99 | Buy → |
| $13.33 | MDD 6TB SAS 12G 7200RPM | 6TB | new | $79.99 | Buy → |
| $13.75 | HP 695510-B21 4TB SAS 6G | 4TB | new | $55.00 | Buy → |
| $/TB | Drive | Capacity | Condition | Price | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $8.25 | Toshiba MG Series 8TB Enterprise SATA | 8TB | used | $66.00 | Buy → |
| $15.38 | Toshiba MG Series 8TB Enterprise SATA | 8TB | new | $123.00 | Buy → |
| $16.40 | WD Ultrastar DC 20TB Renewed | 20TB | used | $327.99 | Buy → |
| $16.87 | Seagate Exos X16 16TB Renewed | 16TB | used | $269.99 | Buy → |
| $17.14 | WD Ultrastar DC HC530 14TB SATA 4Kn NAS | 14TB | used | $239.99 | Buy → |
| $17.17 | WD Ultrastar DC HC550 18TB SATA | 18TB | new | $309.00 | Buy → |
| $17.54 | Seagate Exos X22 22TB Renewed | 22TB | used | $385.99 | Buy → |
| $17.92 | WD Ultrastar DC HC580 24TB Renewed | 24TB | used | $429.99 | Buy → |
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.