CONCLUSION

   It actually took us quite a bit more time than we had initially expected to finish this review because after performing the latest firmware update on our LSI MegaRAID 9265-8i SATA/SAS card we witnessed a large performance boost on RAID0 configurations (especially in Crystal Disk Mark) and so we had to sit down and re-do every single RAID0 test with all the drives we have here (and that takes time). Lucky for us single drive performance was not affected by this firmware update in any way (we even triple-checked that just to be sure) so in the end things were not as bad as they could have been. That aside not really much to say about the Enterprise Capacity 3.5 V.3 4TB SAS 6Gb/s drive that one can’t see just by going through our charts is there? The SATA III variant already surpassed every single HDD so we knew right from the start that the SAS version would do even better. What we didn't really expect was the large performance gaps we encountered in some tests even after changing the parameters to compensate for the performance boost features by the MegaRAID 9265-8i SAS/SATA card. Still it is what it is and so currently the Enterprise Capacity 3.5 V.3 4TB SAS 6Gb/s variant (ST4000NM0023) is the fastest HDD (7200RPM one at least) to have ever passed from our test bench to date in both single and RAID0 configuration.

   Since we are basically talking about two variants of the same HDD based on connectivity naturally the price can't be very different between them and it's not since currently the Enterprise Capacity 3.5 V3 4TB SAS 6Gb/s (ST4000NM0023) model retails for USD422 inside the USA (Amazon) and at around 370Euros inside the EU a price tag which is roughly USD20/10Euros over the SATA III model. Of course in order to use an SAS type HDD/SSD you also need to purchase an SAS card (if you don't have one already) and although a basic one will set you back just around USD150/150Euros a very good one like the LSI MegaRAID 9265-8i or the Areca ARC-1882i will set you back at least another USD550/550Euros so in the end things are not so simple and the cost piles up. However we are talking about a product which is purely aimed for professional and enterprise 24/7 environments and not for home use. So although the cost is higher than its SATA III brother the SAS variant is faster (especially in RAID0 configurations) and when paired with a good SAS card it can offer important features that can help safeguard your data so our Platinum award is really a one way here.

PROS

- Enterprise Class Quality
- 1.4 Million Hours MTBF (Mean Time Between Failures)
- Top Performance
- Increased Data Safety
- 4TB's Capacity
- Power Choice Technology
- Temperatures/Noise Levels
- 5 Years Warranty 

CONS

- Total Price (For Some)