SAS vs SAS2 interface

Question

I´m pretty new to this server environment and I´m looking to expand the capacity of our HP Proliant DL385 G2 server. I want to replace the 146 GB disks with 300 GB disks. My question is: Can I use a SAS2 disks instead of SAS?

Solution 1

Yes. It's like SATA in that the connectors are compatible in both directions, minus the speed improvements of course.

(This is true at least for the SFF-8482/SFF-8484 connectors).

Solution 2

As Sven says yes you can, you're got either a P400 or E200 controller in that machine and it you bring the whole box up to the latest firmware revisions that card will support the new 900GB 10krpm SAS disks too, as well as the 600GB one - just wanted you to know you have options.

Solution 3

Yes, you shouldn't have any problems. In fact, you'd probably only be able to find the newer SAS2 (6G) disks from HP at this point. They are backwards-compatible, but will run at 3G speeds with the controller you have in your system (P400i).

http://h18000.www1.hp.com/products/quickspecs/12565_na/12565_na.html

Also, if making a storage upgrade, you may also want to make sure you have a battery-backed write cache unit available for performance purposes. See: Incredibly low disk performance on HP ProLiant DL385 G7

Comments

[Philip]

There are a number of other improvements besides speed, though for simple setups that is the most important factor.