10K RPM SAS Hard Drives
Refurbished 10,000 RPM hard drives: 10K SAS drives that give up a little latency against 15K for more than twice the capacity per bay, reaching 2.4TB, at 3, 6 and 12 Gb/s. The class is built almost entirely in the 2.5-inch SFF size, in 512-native and in 512e or 4Kn advanced-format versions. Each drive is tested on arrival in our lab and once more at dispatch, and every one is covered by an Enterasource warranty whose term appears on its listing.
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Dell 3P3DF 900GB 10K SAS 2.5" 6Gbps Hard Drive | Seagate ST900MM0007Availability: Available by QuoteManufacturer: Dell Condition: Refurbished 1 Year WarrantyRequest PricingOut of stock - Dell 43N12 1.8TB 10K SAS 2.5" 6Gbps Hard Drive | Seagate ST1800MM0018Availability: Available by QuoteManufacturer: Dell Condition: Refurbished 1 Year WarrantyRequest PricingOut of stock
- Dell 4RYFR 1.2TB 10K SAS 2.5" 6Gbps SED Hard Drive | Seagate ST1200MM0027Availability: Available by QuoteManufacturer: Dell Condition: Refurbished 1 Year WarrantyRequest PricingOut of stock
- Dell 4X1DR 900GB 10K SAS 2.5" 6Gbps Hard Drive | Western Digital WD9001BKHGAvailability: Available by QuoteManufacturer: Dell Condition: Refurbished 1 Year WarrantyRequest PricingOut of stock
- Dell 5H3XX 1.8TB 10K SAS 2.5" 12Gbps EP+ Hard Drive | Hitachi HUC101818CS4204Availability: Available by QuoteManufacturer: Dell Condition: Refurbished 1 Year WarrantyRequest PricingOut of stock
- Dell 5MMWT 1.8TB 10K SAS 2.5" 12Gbps SED 4K EP+ Hard Drive Seagate ST1800MM0048Availability: Available by QuoteManufacturer: Dell Condition: Refurbished 1 Year WarrantyRequest PricingOut of stock
- Dell 5R6CX 600GB 10K SAS 2.5" 6Gbps Hard Drive | Fujitsu MBF2600RCAvailability: Available by QuoteManufacturer: Dell Condition: Refurbished 1 Year WarrantyRequest PricingOut of stock
- Dell 5VNKK 300GB 10K SAS 2.5" 12Gbps Hard Drive | HGST HUC101830CSS200Availability: Available by QuoteManufacturer: Dell Condition: Refurbished 1 Year WarrantyRequest PricingOut of stock
- Dell 61H3H 1.8TB 10K SAS 2.5" 12Gbps 4K EP+ Hard Drive | Seagate ST1800MM0008Availability: Available by QuoteManufacturer: Dell Condition: Refurbished 1 Year WarrantyRequest PricingOut of stock
- Dell 68V42 1.2TB 10K SAS 2.5" 6Gbps EP+ Hard Drive | Seagate ST1200MM0007Availability: Available by QuoteManufacturer: Dell Condition: Refurbished 1 Year WarrantyRequest PricingOut of stock
- Dell 6FV4P 1.8TB 10K SAS 2.5" 12Gbps EP+ Hard Drive | Seagate ST1800MM0129Availability: Available by QuoteManufacturer: Dell Condition: Refurbished 1 Year WarrantyRequest PricingOut of stock
- Dell 7149N 600GB 10K SAS 2.5" 6Gbps EP+ Hard Drive | Seagate ST9600205SSAvailability: Available by QuoteManufacturer: Dell Condition: Refurbished 1 Year WarrantyRequest PricingOut of stock
10K performance and capacity
Seagate's 10K data sheet gives the class 2.9 ms average latency and 266 to 130 MB/s sustained transfer on its largest models, and lists mission-critical servers and database and OLTP applications among its best fits. Seagate's 10K line reaches 2.4TB in 2.5-inch, where its 15K line stops at 900GB.
Server 10K drives are SAS drives: Seagate builds its 10,000 RPM enterprise line with a 12Gb/s SAS interface only, so a 10K drive needs a SAS controller and a SAS backplane.
| Drive class | Average latency (Seagate) | Largest drive on Dell's R750 list | Seagate's stated best fit |
|---|---|---|---|
| 15K SAS | 2.0 ms | 900GB, 2.5-inch | Transaction-based OLTP and database work |
| 10K SAS | 2.9 ms | 2.4TB, 2.5-inch | Mission-critical servers and arrays, OLTP, boot volumes |
| 7.2K NL-SAS or SATA | 4.16 ms | 18TB, 3.5-inch SATA | Bulk data, backup and restore, distributed file systems |
512n, 512e and 4Kn
Sector format is the detail that catches buyers of the larger 10K drives. Seagate builds its 10K drives in 512-native up to 1.2TB, while the 1.8TB and 2.4TB models come only in 512e/4Kn advanced format, and its 15K data sheet notes that 512e and 4Kn models perform better in 4K-aligned systems. Check a drive's format before you order:
| Sector format | Logical sector the host sees | Physical sector on the platter | What the server needs |
|---|---|---|---|
| 512n | 512 bytes | 512 bytes | Any controller and operating system |
| 512e | 512 bytes | 4,096 bytes | Runs 512-byte software; works best on 4K-aligned partitions |
| 4Kn | 4,096 bytes | 4,096 bytes | A controller, firmware and OS that support 4K-native drives |
10K SAS or an SSD
An SSD wins on latency and capacity per bay, and a 10K drive wins where the array around it is built from 10K drives. KIOXIA rates its enterprise NVMe drives at about 90 microseconds read latency and builds 2.5-inch SSDs up to 30.72TB, against 2.9 ms and 2.4TB for Seagate's 10K line. SSDs are sized by drive writes per day, so a write-heavy workload needs the higher-endurance SSD class, while Seagate's 10K data sheet sets no comparable write limit. To move a SAS server to flash in the same bays, see SAS SSDs.
10K drives sit in the 2.5-inch bays covered by 2.5-inch hard drives, and they run behind the cards on server RAID controllers.
Servers and neighbouring classes
Dell's R750 drive list carries 2.5-inch 12Gb SAS 10K drives at 600GB, 1.2TB and 2.4TB, and HPE's DL380 Gen10 QuickSpecs list 10K Enterprise SAS drives from 300GB to 2.4TB, so the class fits the SFF bays of the PowerEdge R750 and the ProLiant DL380 Gen10; see Dell PowerEdge and HPE ProLiant servers. For the lowest spindle latency see 15K RPM SAS drives, for bulk capacity NL-SAS, and for every SAS class SAS hard drives. Planning the array? See our guide to RAID 5, 6 and 10.
10K drive questions
- Is a 10K SAS drive worth it over 7.2K?
- For random reads and writes, yes: Seagate rates its 10K drives at 2.9 ms average latency against 4.16 ms for its 7,200 RPM drives, and lists database and OLTP work among the 10K fits. For capacity, no: Dell's R750 drive list stops at 2.4TB for 10K but reaches 18TB for 3.5-inch 7.2K drives. Choose 10K for transactional volumes and 7.2K for bulk data.
- Will a 10K SAS drive work on a SATA port?
- No. A SATA port or SATA-only controller cannot run any SAS drive, and every 10K enterprise drive in Seagate's range is SAS. Connect the drive to a SAS RAID controller or SAS HBA through a SAS-capable backplane instead; those controllers run SATA drives too, so one SAS controller can serve both kinds of bay.
