Choosing 2.5in SAS drives for HPE, Dell and Lenovo servers
Small form factor SAS is the standard internal hard disk drive format for most rack servers of the last decade, from ProLiant Gen8 to Gen10 and their PowerEdge contemporaries. This range brings together HPE, Dell and Lenovo vendor-labelled drives alongside the Seagate, Toshiba, Samsung and HGST models underneath them, so you can replace a failed disk like for like or add capacity to a server you already run.
The part number is the quickest route to the right drive. HPE drives often carry more than one number, typically a spare part number and an assembly or option number, and we list them together in the product title (872735-001 alongside 876936-003, for example). Dell 2.5 SAS drives are identified by a five-character part number such as 7YX58 or FVX7C on the drive label. Searching for either is the most reliable way to find a match, and most listings also show the manufacturer model, such as ST600MM0006 or AL15SEB030N.
Once the part number is settled, three decisions remain: spinning disk or solid state, the SAS generation your controller and backplane support, and whether the drive is going into a server or a storage array, which tends to be far stricter about firmware.
At a glance
Typical deployments
Virtualisation datastores
Local storage on a VMware or Hyper-V host sees small random reads and writes from many virtual machines at once. Prioritise IOPS over raw capacity: more 10K spindles in RAID 10 will outperform fewer large 7.2K disks, and a mirrored pair of SAS SSDs for the busiest VMs goes further still. A 600GB 10K drive such as the Dell ST600MM0006 (7YX58) is a sensible building block for a PowerEdge RAID 10 set.
SQL and database servers
Separate logs from data. Transaction logs are largely sequential writes and sit happily on a mirrored pair of 10K disks, while data files and tempdb want fast random reads, which is where an SSD like the Samsung PM1633 400GB SAS SSD earns its bay. Read-intensive drives suit reporting and read-heavy applications; for write-heavy OLTP, check the endurance rating before committing.
Boot and OS mirrors
An operating system or hypervisor install needs little space but should survive a disk failure. Two small 10K drives in RAID 1, such as the 300GB HPE AL15SEB030N in a ProLiant, cost little and keep the remaining bays free for workload storage.
File, backup and archive
Cost per terabyte matters more than latency here. 2TB 7.2K drives such as the Dell Exos 7E2000 (TMVN7) trade speed for capacity in each SFF bay. Use RAID 6 rather than RAID 5 so the array can tolerate a second failure during what will be a long rebuild on large spinning disks.
HPE MSA and EqualLogic arrays
Storage arrays are fussier than servers. HPE MSA and Dell EqualLogic enclosures generally expect drives with the array's own firmware and carrier, and may refuse or flag a drive that is otherwise identical. When buying HPE MSA 2.5" SAS drives or EqualLogic 2.5" SAS hard drives, match the array's part number rather than just capacity and speed, and keep replacements the same size and rpm as the rest of the disk group.
ZFS, Ceph and lab clusters
With the controller in HBA mode the operating system manages each disk directly, so vendor labels matter less than consistency. Refurbished 10K drives are a cost-effective way to build test and development storage; keep each pool or vdev to one drive type and capacity so performance stays predictable.
Why buy from Compuwyze
- Drives carry a 12-month return-to-base warranty; our warranty terms explain how claims work.
- Order drives before 2pm and we aim to ship the same day, with UK delivery normally the next working day once shipped.
- Free UK delivery on orders over £50, with bulk drive orders shipped boxed or on pallets as the quantity requires.
- International delivery usually takes 2 to 5 days, with economy and priority FedEx services.
- Returns accepted within 30 days; return shipping is paid by the customer.
- Prefer drives fitted and configured? Specify a complete machine in our build-to-order server configurator; configured servers come with a 3-year warranty and we aim to ship them within 2 business days.
Frequently asked questions
Will an HP 2.5" SAS drive work in a Dell server?
The SAS interface and 2.5in form factor are the same, but the carriers are not interchangeable, and vendor RAID controllers may report a drive with another vendor's firmware as non-genuine or withhold some health information. For production servers, buy the drive under your server vendor's part number. For HBA-mode or lab use, the mismatch matters much less.
Can I connect SAS drives to a SATA controller?
No. A SAS drive needs a SAS controller and backplane, while the reverse usually works: SATA drives will run on most SAS controllers. If you are unsure which interface suits the job, our SAS vs SATA vs NVMe comparison sets out the trade-offs.
Can I mix SAS2 and SAS3 drives, or different speeds, in one array?
The controller will usually accept them, but a RAID set performs at the level of its slowest and smallest member. Mixing SAS2 and SAS3 drives of the same speed is generally fine. Mixing 10K and 7.2K disks, or different capacities, in one array wastes the faster or larger drives, so keep each RAID group consistent and put different drive types in separate arrays.
Is a 2.5 SSD drive from a desktop a cheaper alternative to a SAS SSD?
A consumer 2.5 solid state hard drive is SATA, not SAS, so it won't replace a SAS SSD like for like, and it is not designed for sustained server workloads. Enterprise SAS SSDs such as the PM1633 are built and rated for continuous duty behind a RAID controller. Our guide to enterprise versus consumer SSDs explains the differences in more detail.
Do refurbished 10K SAS hard drives still make sense now SSDs are common?
Often, yes. If you are replacing a failed member of an existing array, the right answer is a matching hard drive, not an SSD. 10K disks also remain a low-cost way to add redundant capacity to older ProLiant and PowerEdge servers where the workload doesn't justify solid state. For new random-I/O-heavy builds, SAS SSDs are usually the better buy.
What should I do when fitting a replacement drive?
Confirm the part number, capacity and speed match the drive you are replacing, fit it into the same bay, and check the controller's management tool (iLO, iDRAC or the array interface) reports it as healthy before it is added to the array. Let the rebuild finish before touching any other drive, and keep a spare of the same part number on the shelf for larger arrays.