SAS or SATA?

Discussion in 'Hardware' started by simongrahamuk, Nov 17, 2006.

  1. simongrahamuk
    Honorary Member

    simongrahamuk Hmmmmmmm?

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    Looking into buying a new server and wanted to know what you guy's would recommend for the type of disks?

    I know that SCSI it traditionally the preferred option for servers, but SATA is known to be a good performer, so how does it compare to the newest version of SCSI - SAS?

    :unsure
     
  2. hbroomhall

    hbroomhall Petabyte Poster Gold Member

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    As always - depends on what the proposed use is.

    For general purpose use SATA is fine. If you are going to have heavy database use then SCSI still has the edge, albeit an expensive edge.

    How many spindles?

    Harry.
     
    Certifications: ECDL A+ Network+ i-Net+
    WIP: Server+
  3. simongrahamuk
    Honorary Member

    simongrahamuk Hmmmmmmm?

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    Thanks Harry,

    Those were my thoughts too.

    The server will most likely be going to take a hammering so SAS it will be then. Just wanted to know if anyone had tried SATA in an intensive environment? Not sure what the SATA speeds are, but SAS has a throughput of about 3Gbps aparently.
     
  4. Raffaz

    Raffaz Kebab Lover Gold Member

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    Never heard of SAS, has it been out long. Current SATA speeds are SATA - 150 Mb/s, SATAII - 300 Mb/s. SATAIII - 600Mb/s (out sometime next year apparently)
     
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  5. simongrahamuk
    Honorary Member

    simongrahamuk Hmmmmmmm?

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    SAS is the new SCSI type. It stands for Serial Attached SCSI. Not sure how long it's been around, but most of the new servers these days use it.

    Going by the figures that you've given me there Raff I'd be daft not to go with SAS if it offers 3Gbps! :ohmy
     
  6. Raffaz

    Raffaz Kebab Lover Gold Member

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  7. Raffaz

    Raffaz Kebab Lover Gold Member

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    Although reading that im a bit confused, so someone will have to clarify something for me. How is this "Like SATA 1.5 Gb/s, SATA 3.0 Gb/s uses 8B/10B encoding resulting in an actual data transfer rate of 2.4 Gb/s, or 300 MB/s."
     
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  8. hbroomhall

    hbroomhall Petabyte Poster Gold Member

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    Both SAS and SATA2 use a 3Gbits/sec clock. The actual throughput in bytes is less than you might expect because of special encoding to ensure reliable transmission at such speeds.

    Harry.
     
    Certifications: ECDL A+ Network+ i-Net+
    WIP: Server+
  9. Raffaz

    Raffaz Kebab Lover Gold Member

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    Ah right, so in real world tests, which one is faster?
     
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  10. hbroomhall

    hbroomhall Petabyte Poster Gold Member

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    'Faster' in what sense? There is much more in the server world than just 'fast'. :biggrin

    The *transfer* speed is the same, but that doesn't tell the whole story by any means!

    Harry.
     
    Certifications: ECDL A+ Network+ i-Net+
    WIP: Server+
  11. Raffaz

    Raffaz Kebab Lover Gold Member

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    Il take your word for it mate, wouldnt know where to start lol:D
     
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