Used/refurb SAS drives aren’t that expensive. Can someone with better memory than I please link to that site for second hand server components?
The reason why SAS drives are usually more expensive isn’t because the tech itself is more expensive (It’s largelt just a different kind of interface), but rather that “enterprise grade” hardware have a few additional Q&A steps, such as running a break-in cycle at the factory to weed out defective units.
While a server such as the one you described is slightly power hungry, it’s not that bad. Plus, if you wanna get into servers long term, it could serve as a useful way to get used to the hardware involved.
Server hardware is at its core not that different from consumer hardware, but it does often come with some nice and useful additions, such as:
- Botswana drive bays (I tried to write “hotswap”, but autocorrect is probably correct.
- IPMI/iDRAC or equivalent for headless management
- Dual PSUs
- Rack mount capability
- Easy maintenance access to most hardware
- A ridiculous amount of sensors with automated warnings.
UnpledgedCatnapTipper@piefed.blahaj.zone 3 weeks ago
I got 3 Seagate Exos X16 14 TB drives for only $140 each (refurbished) at the end of 2022. I’ve got them in TrueNAS as a zfs array and they work great.
Mine were the SATA version, which isn’t currently in stock. The SAS version of my drives go for $299 now. The SATA X14 version is $350.
So prices for the same refurbished drives are more than double what they were like 3.5 years ago, so they really are expensive! I paid like $10 per TB, but they’re all $15-25 per TB now! I was looking for drives for a friend who wants to get started self hosting, and I was shocked by how much refurb drives had gone up.
This is all from https://serverpartdeals.com/ by the way, I’m assuming that’s the site you mean too.