Seagate Enterprise 6tb V.4(SAS) vs WD red 6tb(SATA)

[Jerslund]

I have a friend that wants to sell me at unopened Seagate Enterprise 6tb V.4 and if I buy this pci controller then it will be more or less the same price as if I go out and buy a new 6 TB WD Red Hardisk.

 

I don't really have a lot of experience with Enterprise disks or SAS Disks but considering what the Seagate Enterprise disk would cost for a new one it should be the better deal I think.

 

So the question is if you think I should buy the WD red or Seagate Enterprise disk + controller?
And if I buy the Seagate disk is it then an ok controller I have found? I know it is "only" 6Gbps but that should be more than enough right?

 

it is for a upcoming "plex + more server" that is going to take the place of my old Synology NAS.

 

[scottyseng]

I have a friend that wants to sell me at unopened Seagate Enterprise 6tb V.4 and if I buy this pci controller then it will be more or less the same price as if I go out and buy a new 6 TB WD Red Hardisk.

 

I don't really have a lot of experience with Enterprise disks or SAS Disks but considering what the Seagate Enterprise disk would cost for a new one it should be the better deal I think.

 

So the question is if you think I should buy the WD red or Seagate Enterprise disk + controller?

And if I buy the Seagate disk is it then an ok controller I have found? I know it is "only" 6Gbps but that should be more than enough right?

 

it is for a upcoming "plex + more server" that is going to take the place of my old Synology NAS.

 

Hmm, if the price is good, then I would go for the enterprise Seagate. SAS hard drives aren't cheap. My 4TB WD Re SAS drives cost me $250 a piece.

 

However, the controller card you linked wouldn't work. SAS 12Gb/s uses a different connector than SAS 6Gb/s. You can adapt 6Gb/s drives to a SAS 12Gb/s RAID / HBA card, but not the other way around (At least to my knowledge...maybe you might be lucky to find a convertor cable somewhere. You need a SFF-8087 to the SFF-8643). You should look at the LSI 9300-8i HBA card instead. It's better to keep the RAID / HBA card the same or newer than the drives for compatibility issues.

 

I would check warranty though. I hope you'll be able to keep the warranty / register it. I kind of would like to see SMART data / know if the drive isn't DOA before buying if there's no warranty.

[leadeater]

I have a friend that wants to sell me at unopened Seagate Enterprise 6tb V.4 and if I buy this pci controller then it will be more or less the same price as if I go out and buy a new 6 TB WD Red Hardisk.

 

I don't really have a lot of experience with Enterprise disks or SAS Disks but considering what the Seagate Enterprise disk would cost for a new one it should be the better deal I think.

 

So the question is if you think I should buy the WD red or Seagate Enterprise disk + controller?

And if I buy the Seagate disk is it then an ok controller I have found? I know it is "only" 6Gbps but that should be more than enough right?

 

it is for a upcoming "plex + more server" that is going to take the place of my old Synology NAS.

 

The linked controller card only supports SATA. SAS is backwards compatible with SATA but SATA is not forwards compatible with SAS. To avoid confusion they should have only listed the connector as SFF-8087 and not mentioned mini-SAS at all. Also it directly says it in the technical specs under special notes.

 

Not compatible with SAS drives, only SATA drives are supported.

 

A true SAS HBA or RAID card will likely push the total cost past the WD Red. However the SAS disk is superior in performance especially in multi user highly random I/O loads, something unlikely to make a significant difference for you.

[Captain_WD]

~snip~

 

Hey there Jerslund,

 

Enterprise drives generally should be more durable since they are built for more scale-out setups and more intensive and heavier workloads. If the deal is good I'd say it a good opportunity. Just do have in mind that if you plan on upgrading your drive pool down the road you would need to get more of these and they tend to be much pricier compared to regular SATA NAS drives. 

As the guys explained the controller that you have listed won't work, you'd need another one which would increase the overall price. 

Enterprise drives are designed for enterprise-level of usage and as @leadeater pointed out you are not likely to have such workloads so the difference won't be so noticeable.

 

I would stick to the regular NAS drive.

 

Captain_WD.

[Jerslund]

Thanks for the help   I am not happy to say no to this deal but you all make it very clear that it would be stupid for me to say yes and pay more for something I wont need.

 

This has helped me a lot 

[scottyseng]

Thanks for the help   I am not happy to say no to this deal but you all make it very clear that it would be stupid for me to say yes and pay more for something I wont need.

 

This has helped me a lot 

 

You could buy it and sell it at a higher price (If you're getting a decent deal on it), just saying. haha. Though you'd need a SAS 12Gb/s card of some sort to test it.