15K RPM SAS Hard Drives
Refurbished 15,000 RPM hard drives: 15K SAS drives in 2.5-inch SFF and 3.5-inch LFF, at 3, 6 and 12 Gb/s, for servers whose work is random I/O rather than bulk capacity. The class tops out at 900GB per drive, so a 15K drive trades capacity for the shortest rotational wait of any spinning disk. Our lab tests each 15K drive as it arrives and again before shipping.
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HP 512544-002 146GB 15K SAS 2.5" 6Gbps Hard Drive | Seagate ST9146852SSAvailability: Available by QuoteManufacturer: HPE Condition: Refurbished 1 Year WarrantyRequest PricingOut of stock - HP 518022-002 146GB 15K SAS 2.5" 6Gbps Hard Drive | Fujitsu MBE2147RCAvailability: Available by QuoteManufacturer: HPE Condition: Refurbished 1 Year WarrantyRequest PricingOut of stock
- HP 653960-001 300GB SAS 6Gbps ENT 15K SFF SC Hard Drive 652611-B21Availability: Available by QuoteManufacturer: HPE Condition: Refurbished 1 Year WarrantyRequest PricingOut of stock
- HP 748385-001 300GB 15K SAS SFF 12Gbps Hard DriveAvailability: Available by QuoteManufacturer: HPE Condition: Refurbished 1 Year WarrantyRequest PricingOut of stock
- Dell 1W7HC 600GB 15K SAS 2.5" 12Gbps ISE Hard Drive | Toshiba AL14SXB60ENYAvailability: Available by QuoteManufacturer: Dell Condition: Refurbished 1 Year WarrantyRequest PricingOut of stock
- Dell F617N 300GB 15K SAS 3.5" 6Gbps Hard Drive | Seagate ST3300657SSAvailability: Available by QuoteManufacturer: Dell Condition: Refurbished 1 Year WarrantyRequest PricingOut of stock
- Dell H8DVC 300GB 15K SAS 2.5" 6Gbps Hard Drive | Seagate ST9300653SSAvailability: Available by QuoteManufacturer: Dell Condition: Refurbished 1 Year WarrantyRequest PricingOut of stock
- HP 759546-001 300GB SAS 12Gbps ENT 15K SFF SC Hard Drive 759208-B21Availability: Available by QuoteManufacturer: HPE Condition: Refurbished 1 Year WarrantyRequest PricingOut of stock
What 15,000 RPM buys and costs
A faster spindle cuts the wait for data to rotate under the head. Seagate's 15K data sheet rates the class at 2.0 ms average latency and 300 to 210 MB/s sustained transfer, against 2.9 ms for its 10K drives, and names OLTP, databases and other transaction-based applications as the best fit. The cost is capacity: Seagate's 15K family stops at 900GB in 2.5-inch.
Power draw is close between the classes: Seagate's data sheets give its 15K drives 6.9 to 7.6 W of operating power and its advanced-format 10K drives 6.9 to 8.6 W, so what the extra speed costs is capacity per bay.
| Where 15K sits | Interface | Delay to reach data | Capacity per 2.5-inch drive | Typical role |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 15K SAS | 12Gb/s SAS | 2.0 ms average latency | Up to 900GB | OLTP, databases, transaction-based work |
| 10K SAS | 12Gb/s SAS | 2.9 ms average latency | Up to 2.4TB | Mission-critical servers and storage arrays |
| 7.2K NL-SAS | 12Gb/s SAS | 4.16 ms average latency | Capacity class, mostly 3.5-inch | Backup and restore, Hadoop and Ceph storage |
| SAS SSD | 12 or 24Gb/s SAS | No rotational delay | Up to 30.72TB in KIOXIA's 24G SAS range | Workloads limited by latency or IOPS |
A 12Gb/s controller runs each older SAS generation at its own rate:
| SAS generation | Link rate | On a 12Gb/s SAS controller |
|---|---|---|
| SAS-3 | 12Gb/s | Runs at 12Gb/s |
| SAS-2 | 6Gb/s | Runs at 6Gb/s |
| SAS-1 | 3Gb/s | Runs at 3Gb/s |
Older drives keep working on newer controllers: Broadcom's 12Gb/s SAS HBAs support 3, 6 and 12Gb/s link rates, and a 12Gb/s 15K drive negotiates 3.0, 6.0 or 12.0 Gb/s on each port. What decides the fit is the carrier and the backplane, not the generation.
15K SAS or SSD
When latency is the limit, a SAS SSD in the same bay beats any 15K drive, because it has no platter to wait on; when the job is replacing a drive in an existing 15K array, a 15K drive keeps the set uniform. KIOXIA's 24G SAS SSDs come in a one-drive-write-per-day line from 1.92TB to 30.72TB and a three-per-day line from 1.6TB to 12.8TB, so check the write volume against those classes before you swap a 15K array for flash. Both kinds run on the same SAS controllers.
15K drives fit the 2.5-inch bays on 2.5-inch hard drives and run behind server RAID controllers; for laying out the array itself, read our article on choosing a RAID level.
Servers and alternatives
Dell's R750 supported-drive list includes a 900GB 12Gb SAS 15K 2.5-inch drive, and HPE's DL380 Gen10 QuickSpecs list 15K Enterprise SAS drives at 300GB, 600GB and 900GB, so the 15K class appears on the supported lists of both servers. For more capacity per bay, step to 10K RPM SAS drives; for bulk storage, NL-SAS; and SAS SSDs use the same SAS bays and controllers. Every 15K drive also appears in SAS hard drives, and each comes with an Enterasource warranty for the period shown on its listing.
15K drive questions
- Is a 15K drive faster than a 10K drive?
- Yes, for random access. Seagate rates its 15K drives at 2.0 ms average latency and 300 to 210 MB/s sustained transfer on 512-native models, against 2.9 ms and up to 266 MB/s for its 10K drives. The 10K drive holds more: 2.4TB against 900GB at the top of each 2.5-inch line. Pick 15K when response time matters more than space.
- Should I use 15K SAS drives or SSDs?
- Use SSDs when you need the lowest latency or more capacity per bay, since a SAS SSD has no rotational delay and reaches far beyond 900GB. Use 15K drives to repair or extend an array already built on them, or where a system's support list names 15K drives. Both connect to the same SAS RAID controllers and HBAs, so the choice does not change the controller.
