[geeks] SATA vs SAS?

[Patrick Finnegan]

On Thu, Mar 30, 2023 at 4:36 PM Mouse via geeks <geeks at sunhelp.org> wrote:
>
> I'm wondering just how compatible SATA and SAS are.
>
> I have a machine (a SunFire X4100) which takes SAS drives.  But I have
> few SAS drives and plenty of SATA drives.  The SATA drives fit
> mechanically, and I have a fuzzy memory of hearing that they're
> compatible enough to use.  Anyone know whether the X4100 will work with
> SATA drives?  I'd rather not "just try it", as I don't want to risk

Yes, they will work just fine.

> frying the X4100's disk interface.

On stuff that they don't work, they just won't show up. The
differences are that SAS has two data ports on the drive, and some
extra commands. The X4100 controller will work with either.  Some
hardware requires the 2nd data port and thus won't work with SATA
disks.  You could probably toss a cheap SSD in it as well, which would
be what I'd do on that and didn't mind spending the money.  You'll get
a pretty good performance boost over the 73G SAS disks.

Pat