When it comes to interfaces for hard drives, there are only a few standards. Two of these, and the latest among them, are SATA and SAS.
SATA stands for Serial Advanced Technology Attachment and SAS stands for Serial Attached SCSI (SCSI Stands for Small Computer System Interface, pronounced as “scuzzy”).
Both SATA and SAS drives can be used in personal computing, most small business offices and personal setups will not make regular use of SAS' data transfer capabilities.
When it comes to serving up web pages on a web server or hosting games on a game server, SAS is the superior choice because of its low failure rate and high-speed data transfer capabilities.
The main difference between SATA and SAS is where they are meant to be used. SATA is a general-purpose interface and is commonly seen in modern computers.
SAS is a much rarer interface as it is only used in high-end servers where data throughput is significantly higher and the need for reliability is much greater. So, SAS-based hard drives are faster and more reliable than SATA-based hard drives.
But the downside to SAS is its high price. Unlike SATA, which is already embedded with every motherboard available today, SAS is only available in pricier motherboards that are intended for servers.
SAS prioritizes speed over storage. In contrast, SATA prioritizes storage, so finding an affordable SATA drive with 1TB or more of space is easy.
SAS uses more power than SATA does, which allows it to support server backplanes and have longer cables.
