Storage Options Explained

Cost-Effectiveness- Great if you are on a low budget, SATA drives are the cheapest of the bunch.

Performance- For cold storage, SATA is a great choice and performs really well. When asked to deal with higher intensity applications then it can have trouble keeping up with SAS and NVMe PCIe.

Reliability - SATA is very reliable, capable of up to a million hours of idle storage at 25°C without experiencing failure.

Power Consumption - SATA requires by far the least power of the trio, making it the best choice if you want to lower power consumption and your TCO.

Cost-Effectiveness - Slightly more expensive than SATA, SAS is still an option to consider if you are on a low budget.

Performance - SAS delivers a higher level of performance than SATA however is not as powerful as the higher end NVMe PCIe drives.

Reliability - SAS is even more consistent and reliable than SATA, able to last from 1.2M – 1.6M hours of use at 45°C. This remains the case even if you use them 24/7.

Power Consumption - SAS is quite energy efficient in its own rights but on average generates double the power consumption of SATA.

Cost-Effectiveness - SATA SSDs are more often than not cheaper than other storage options out there like SAS and NVMe. While SATA SSDs are more expensive than SATA HDDs, their price is still rather low in comparison to other storage types on the market and they more than make up for their price through their performance.

Performance - SATA SSDs cannot match the high end NVMe PCIe drives for power and performance in harsh environments. However, for most consumers SATA SSDs are more than powerful enough to run your applications smoothly. And if your priority is storage, with SATA you can get huge storage space for relatively low prices.

Reliability - SATA drives are capable of over a million hours of use at 25 °C between fails, making them very reliable.

Power Consumption - SATA SSDs are possibly the ideal low power components. Due to the fact that the SSD has no moving parts, it generates less heat and needs less power than the HDD. And SATA only needs about half the power it takes to run SAS.

Cost-Effectiveness - SAS SSDs are a middling option that delivers great reliability and performance for a lower cost.

Performance - SAS SSDs outperform their SATA equivalents in terms of speed and provide you with the power to handle higher intensity environments.

Reliability - SAS SSDs are supremely reliable, able to run for over a million and a half hours at 45°C, all day every day.

Power Consumption - While SAS SSDs are pretty energy efficient, they still require more power to run than SATA SSDs do.

Cost Effectiveness - NVMe PCIe is a superb option that delivers hugely impressive performance, but it is on the higher end in terms of price.

Performance - Designed and built for performance and speed, this protocol is capable of highly impressive performance feats and can deal with high intensity applications.

Reliability - NVMe PCIe is the most reliable option in a sea of reliable options, with an average time of 2M hours between failures.

Power Consumption - NVMe PCIe drives are in general rather power efficient however there is a trade-off for the huge performance they provide. Which is why they don’t match up to SATA drives when it comes to low power consumption.

Cost-Effectiveness - PCIe SSDs are more on the expensive side, however it’s fair to say that with these drives you get your moneys worth and more.

Performance - Designed for dealing with harsh environments, PCIe SSDs excel at running higher intensity applications.

Reliability - PCIe SSD is ultra-reliable, averaging 2 million hours between fails.

Power Consumption - PCIe SSDs require more power to run than SATA and SAS but still remains pretty power efficient when you take into account the performance it provides.

Cost-Effectiveness - Due to the impressive performance, high density, significant durability and impressive power efficiency delivered by this drive, it is a tad more on the expensive side.

Performance - NVMe NF1 SSDs are one of the higher performing options available, capable at its peak of a throughput of 32gbp/s and an IOPs of over 500,000.

Reliability - These drives are durable and are potentially able to withstand 1.3 drive writes each day, which on the larger drives is equal to 10TB of writes daily.

Power Consumption - NVMe NF1 SSDs require less power than disks of a similar capacity, making it a more environmentally friendly option.

Cost-Effectiveness - M.2 SATA drives are generally more expensive than the standard SATA drives but do feature increased benefits in other areas. Overall, compared to the full range of storage drive options out there, M.2 SATA drives are definitely on the cheaper end.

Performance -M.2 SATA drives offer good performance however are not as powerful as the higher end drives.

Reliability - M.2 SATA drives are very reliable, potentially capable of surpassing 500,000 hours between failures.

Power Consumption - M.2 SATA SSDS are not very power-hungry components, and they won’t be a huge drain on your resources.

Cost-Effectiveness - M.2 NVMe SSDs are more on the expensive side, but are a very wise investment if you are dealing with heavier workloads.

Performance - Capable of performance up to 5 times faster than SATA SSDs, this is one of the premier options on the market if you are prioritising performance.

Reliability - With a mean time between failures of 2 million hours, these drives are super reliable.

Power Consumption - There are other drives that are more power efficient than M.2 NVMe SSDs, such as SATA SSDs.