SATA or SAS

[matt998]

I have a question. Would it be better to run as SAT expansion card or a SAS card with a SAS to SATA cable. Either way what would be the best card that would be support.

 

[HoneyBadger]

"Just Buy LSI"

LSI SAS2008 or the OEM equivalent (IBM M1015, Dell PERC H200/H310) is the cheapest way to attach spinning disks. Robust driver with billions of run-hours.

 

[ThreeDee]

IBM M1015 user here .. picked it up for $25 shipped off of ebay quite awhile ago with SATA and SAS breakout cables(they were $6'ish a pop) .. it's been a rock solid card

 

[rvassar]

SAS & SATA are electrically compatible. Most LSI & M1015ish cards speak to both. It's just a cable end, and a different protocol.

That said, I expect SATA to die somewhat sooner than SAS, as its market segment will convert to NVMe quickly. SAS will linger on longer in the Enterprise.

 

[matt998]

I would like to thank you all for the good information.

 

[matt998]

IBM M1015 user here .. picked it up for $25 shipped off of ebay quite awhile ago with SATA and SAS breakout cables(they were $6'ish a pop) .. it's been a rock solid card

Where did you find this card for $25.00. I have looked all over eBay and can't find it for that price.

 

[jgreco]

The M1015 was produced by IBM from around 2009-2013, which means that equipment containing it would go off lease around three years later, so there was probably optimal pricing around 2012-2016 where the cards were really cheap as they flooded the market. The same is true for the Dell PERC H200 and H310, but Dell sold these for somewhat longer, and I suspect in much greater quantities. I've seen lots of servers here for refurb that contained a single HDD that could have been hooked right up to the mainboard and yet contained an H310 and the related cable set, so I suspect Dell pushed the controller quite heavily.

 

[ThreeDee]

Where did you find this card for $25.00. I have looked all over eBay and can't find it for that price.

I picked one up a few years ago now .. last time I looked out of curiosity I saw some for $25.. some being shipped from China and at least one from somebody on the East Coast USA I believe... If your not in a hurry, then just keep checking ebay listings or maybe the buy/sell/trade section of some server forums.