If you’re looking to boost the performance and reliability of your system, your hard drive is the first step. are critical to system functionality as they store the operating system, application software, files, and images. To help you determine which hard drive is best for your system, take a look at our guide to understand the differences between SATA, SAS, and SSD hard drives.
Although SATA and SAS hard drives are very similar, there are a few key differences. SATA hard drives are typically lower cost, which makes them more common amongst consumers. SATA hard drives are known for their outstanding storage capacity and better power efficiency compared to SAS drives. Because of the high storage capacity they offer, SATA drives are commonly used for file sharing, email, web, backup, and archival data.
SAS hard drives are considered more reliable than SATA drives. SAS hard drives are made to withstand 24/7 use in critical enterprise applications. With transfer rates up to 15,000 RPM, SAS drives are valuable in systems where speed is more important than capacity. SAS drives lack in storage in comparison to SATA drives, but they offer better performance. If you’re looking for storage capacity with more reliability than SATA drives, nearline SAS drives offer higher capacity with lower speeds.
Solid- state drives are a “solid” investment if you’re in the market for speed. SSDs offer up to 100 times greater throughput than traditional hard drives, which means faster bootups and better overall system performance. Unlike SATA and SAS hard drives, SSDs have no moving parts making them the most reliable and efficient option. The lack of moving parts also means a reduced risk of failure and an increase in power efficiency compared to traditional hard drives. Because of the performance, speed, and reliability benefits, solid-state drives are generally more expensive than SAS and SATA hard drives. SSDs are ideal for high frequency immediate transactional data like database, CRM or bank transactions.