The difference is the RPM (rotations per minute) of the hard disk and cache.
SATA hard disks have roughly a 7k RPM average. The Raptor drives have either 10,000 or 15,000 RPM speed and vary in usable storage space and cache options. SA-SCSI drives are high performance disks that are a little more costly but offer the greatest speed and reliability; they also range in the amount of usable space and cache options.
The “SA” in the title means “serial attached”; having serial attached disks (larger bus cable) will allow a wider “highway” to “transport data”. SCSI disks allow some of the greatest transfer rates (the speed at which the information is able to be delivered from the disk itself – usually measured in Mbps). The bottom line is that the faster the disk and the larger the cache, the faster your system will be.
Article ID: 38, Created On: 1/8/2010, Modified: 5/15/2013