Question about SAS

[End7]

Hey Guys,

I know my way around almost all computer harware but I have been having a hell of a time finding an answer to this question. I am pretty new to high-end SAS drives and everything involved. I recently built a new rig (eVGA 680i and C2D e6600 @ 3375Mhz) and I am now looking into buying a SAS drive. I just cant seem to find information anywhere on weather or not you need a special card of if you can just plug the drive into an available SATA port on my motherboard. The board is SATA-II but I just cant find the information anywhere.

So, what I really am looking for here is somebody to help me out, this is what I want to do. I want to buy a 15k RPM SAS drive and plug it into an availalbe SATA-II port on my motherboard. Is this possible or do I need to purchase an addon SAS HBA card?

Thanks in advance for any information!

 

[draksia]

SATA devices will function with a SAS HBA but the reverse is not true. It is not possible use a SAS device with a SATA HBA. The protocols are entirely different. The only thing that is compatible is the physical connectors and the electrical signal level and even there some things are different.

To use SAS drives you need to get a SAS HBA no way around that but you will also be able to plug you SATA drives into that HBA.

 

[End7]

Great, thanks for the information (even though its not what I wanted to hear, I was hoping I could just use a SATA HBA heh). I guess I will put that on hold as a SAS HBA is a decent chunk of change.