SAS

mpj88 · 27 May 2008 at 19:43

Just a quick question! What are they? (SAS drives) Are they faster than sata yet slower that ssd's? Any benefits for them? Need any special equipment for them?
Thanks

PhillyDee · 27 May 2008 at 20:12

SAS is Serial Attatched SCSI.
Its an enterprise spec.
Yes you need a special controller. Its expensive. But fast.

So you will probably need earplugs too.

mdjmcnally · 27 May 2008 at 20:14

Really aimed at Server systems, you will need a proper SAS controller card to connect them up. They look like SATA connectors but aren't.

Quicker access then even a raptor if you get the Seagate 15.5 which are 15000rpm jobbies.

When I asked about them the consensus seemed to be that are overkill for a PC.

AbsenceJam · 27 May 2008 at 22:01

It's effectively the new SCSI interface and also support SATA drives which is quite handy. Some of the drives are identical to enterprise 7200rpm SATA ones (higher MTBF) just with a different interface but there are of course the 10k and 15k RPM ones following on from SCSI. It's not for home use really.

marscay · 27 May 2008 at 22:44

mdjmcnally said:
When I asked about them the consensus seemed to be that are overkill for a PC.

yep pretty much, the firmware is geared towards server applications/needs also so desktop performance isn't as good as you might think.

i've tried a couple of SAS drives on my LSI SAS card and although the performance was pretty good they're incredibly loud drives for the desktop.

Elric · 28 May 2008 at 11:12

marscay said:
yep pretty much, the firmware is geared towards server applications/needs also so desktop performance isn't as good as you might think.

i've tried a couple of SAS drives on my LSI SAS card and although the performance was pretty good they're incredibly loud drives for the desktop.

Loud? nah! They're no worse than the Raptors in my opinion.