SATA Hard Drives

Hot-plug and internal SATA drives across every generation from SATA I to SATA III

About SATA Hard Drives

SATA hard drives cover the widest span of any drive type we carry — from 1.5Gb/s drives pulled from mid-2000s workstations through to 6Gb/s nearline drives still shipping in current servers. That breadth is useful when you are keeping older equipment running, but it does mean the label "SATA" on its own is not enough to order by.

The three SATA generations

SATA I (1.5Gb/s) — earliest generation, still common in legacy desktops and early ProLiant and PowerEdge machines
SATA II (3Gb/s) — the most heavily represented generation in our catalogue
SATA III (6Gb/s) — current generation, used by higher-capacity nearline drives

The generations are backward compatible in both directions: a 6Gb/s drive will run in a 3Gb/s port and negotiate down to the slower link rate. Interface generation is therefore rarely the thing that blocks a fit — form factor and mounting usually are.

Rotational speed

Most drives here are 7200RPM. A significant number are 5400RPM, which is typical of 2.5-inch and low-power drives and trades throughput for heat and noise. A small number of SATA drives run at 10000RPM. Where a workload is IOPS-bound rather than capacity-bound, SAS is usually the better answer — see our SAS hard drives.

Hot-plug drives need the right caddy

Server-pull SATA drives are frequently hot-pluggable, which means they were mounted in a carrier specific to the chassis generation. The bare drive will not seat in a hot-plug bay without the matching tray. If you are filling server bays, check our Dell and HP caddy pages before ordering.

Capacity, speed and interface alone do not always settle whether a drive will be recognised cleanly by a given RAID controller. Send us the server model or the part number you are replacing and we will confirm the match.

Featured SATA Hard Drives Products

Browse all 108,607 SATA Hard Drives SKUs.

Frequently Asked Questions

Will a 6Gb/s SATA drive work in a 3Gb/s port?

Yes. SATA generations are backward compatible and the link negotiates down to the slower of the two ends, so a SATA III drive runs correctly in a SATA II or SATA I port at the lower rate. The reverse also works. Interface generation is rarely what prevents a drive from fitting.

What is the difference between 5400RPM and 7200RPM SATA drives?

7200RPM drives spin faster and deliver higher sustained throughput and lower latency. 5400RPM drives run cooler, quieter and draw less power, which is why the speed is common on 2.5-inch and low-power models. For general server and desktop storage 7200RPM is the usual choice.

Can I put a SATA drive in a SAS backplane?

Generally yes. SAS backplanes and controllers accept SATA drives, while SAS drives cannot be used in a SATA-only port. Bear in mind that a SATA drive in a SAS enclosure is still single-port and does not gain the redundancy of a true SAS drive.

Do I need a caddy for a hot-plug SATA drive?

Yes, if the drive is going into a hot-plug server bay. The carrier is specific to the chassis generation, so a bare drive will not seat correctly without it. Non-hot-plug drives mounted internally usually need only standard screws or a bracket.