693651-003 HPE 1.2TB SAS 6 Gigabits 10K RPM SFF HDD.

HPE 693651-003 1.2TB SAS 6Gbps 10K RPM SFF Hard Drive Overview

The HPE 693651-003 1.2TB SAS 6Gbps 10K RPM Small Form Factor (SFF) Hard Disk Drive is designed for enterprises requiring reliable performance, high-speed data transfers, and consistent durability in demanding server and storage environments. Engineered with advanced technology, this hard drive ensures rapid access times, optimized throughput, and a compact size suitable for data-intensive workloads.

Key Features of HPE 693651-003 1.2TB SAS Drive

• Large storage capacity of 1.2TB for enterprise applications.
• Supports 6 Gigabits per second SAS interface for fast data transfer rates.
• Compact Small Form Factor (SFF) design suitable for space-efficient servers.
• 10K RPM spindle speed for reliable and consistent performance.
• Enhanced read and write seek times for data-intensive workloads.
• Ideal for data centers, enterprise servers, and storage arrays.

Product Specifications for 693651-003

General Specifications

• Capacity: 1,200,243 MB (1.2TB)
• Height: 0.63 in (16.0 mm)
• Width: 3.1 in (78.7 mm)
• Depth: 5.45 in (138.4 mm)
• Interface: SAS (Serial Attached SCSI)
• Maximum Transfer Rate: 6 Gb/sec

Performance Metrics

• Rotational Speed: 10,000 RPM
• Seek Time:
  • Single Track: 0.3 ms
  • Average Read: 4.6 ms
  • Full Stroke: 8.9 ms
• Bytes per Sector: 512
• Logical Blocks: 2,344,225,968

Environmental Conditions

• Operating Temperature Range: 50°F to 95°F (10°C to 35°C)

Advantages of Using HPE 693651-003 1.2TB SAS HDD

• Enhanced reliability for mission-critical business operations.
• Optimized for data center workloads requiring high availability.
• Compact size ensures efficient use of rack space.
• Designed for enterprise-level performance and scalability.
• Energy-efficient with reduced cooling requirements.

Applications and Use Cases

Enterprise-Level Storage

The HPE 693651-003 is particularly suitable for enterprise applications where storage speed and reliability are crucial. It excels in virtualization, transaction-heavy databases, and mission-critical applications.

Data Center Deployments

Designed for rack-mounted servers and high-density storage arrays, this hard disk ensures rapid response times and seamless integration into existing HPE infrastructure.

Performance-Driven Workloads

With its 10K RPM rotational speed and SAS 6Gbps interface, this HDD is optimized for workloads demanding low-latency performance, such as real-time analytics, online transaction processing (OLTP), and virtualization.

HPE 693651-003 1.2TB SAS 6Gb/s 10K RPM SFF — Category Overview

The HPE 693651-003 1.2TB SAS (Serial Attached SCSI) 6 gigabits per second, 10,000 RPM, Small Form Factor (2.5") hard disk drive (HDD) is a purpose-built enterprise storage component designed for demanding datacenter applications. This category page description focuses on the product family and related subcategories of 2.5" 10K SAS drives optimized for HPE servers and storage arrays. Here you will find detailed explanations of performance characteristics, compatibility matrices, common use cases, best-practice deployment guidance, maintenance tips, and buying considerations tailored to IT buyers, systems integrators, and storage administrators looking for reliable mid-capacity, high-performance spinning-disk storage.

Key technical identity and naming conventions

The part number HPE 693651-003 identifies a specific HPE-branded manufacturing batch of a 1.2TB 10K SAS drive. The full product identity includes capacity (1.2TB), interface (SAS), maximum link speed (6 Gb/s), spindle speed (10K RPM), and a small form factor (SFF, 2.5-inch). When shopping or comparing compatible parts, you will also encounter reference model numbers from the OEM's supply chain and cross-references to the drive's manufacturer OEM SKU.

Common alternate labels and search keywords

• HPE 693651-003 1.2TB SAS 6Gb/s 10K RPM SFF
• 1.2TB 10K SAS 2.5" HPE drive
• HPE 1.2TB SAS 6G 10K SFF HDD
• 693651-003 replacement hard disk drive
• HPE 1.2TB enterprise HDD 10K RPM

Physical and electrical specifications — what to expect

Drives in this category typically conform to enterprise mechanical and electrical specifications. Typical attributes include a 2.5-inch (SFF) form factor, 15 mm or 7 mm z-height variants (verify exact z-height for server compatibility), SAS 6 Gb/s interface with backward compatibility to 3 Gb/s and forward compatibility with SAS expanders and HBAs, and enterprise-class rotational speed of 10,000 RPM delivering a balance between seek performance and power efficiency.

Representative specification table (readers should confirm exact specs with seller)

• Capacity: 1.2 TB (formatted capacity may vary)
• Interface: SAS 2.0 / 6.0 Gb/s
• Form factor: 2.5" SFF
• Rotational speed: 10,000 RPM
• Seek time: Typically low milliseconds; enterprise-rated
• Cache: Vendor dependent (often 128–256 MB)
• MTBF / AFR: Enterprise-grade reliability ratings (check datasheet)
• Power consumption: Idle and active figures vary by model

Performance characteristics and real-world behavior

10K RPM SAS drives are designed as a middle ground between high-capacity 7.2K drives and low-latency SSDs. For random I/O workloads—typical of database reads, transactional servers, and virtualization hosts—these drives provide predictable seek times and superior IOPS compared to 7.2K HDDs. With a 6 Gb/s SAS interface, they deliver sustained throughput suitable for sequential reads/writes and can be combined in RAID arrays to scale throughput and redundancy.

Strengths

• Cost-effective IOPS per dollar versus SSDs for mixed workloads
• Predictable latency and steady-state performance under sustained workloads
• Hardware RAID and HBA ecosystems tuned for SAS reliability
• Commonly supported by HPE ProLiant servers, MSA arrays, and SAN systems

Limitations

• Higher latency and lower IOPS than NVMe or SAS SSDs
• Mechanical wear makes them less suited to extremely write-intensive workloads
• Power and thermal footprint larger than flash alternatives in dense configurations

Compatibility and supported systems

When evaluating drives for procurement or replacement, compatibility is the single most important filter. HPE typically validates specific SKUs (such as 693651-003) for use in a range of server families (e.g., ProLiant Gen8/Gen9/Gen10 series) and array platforms (e.g., MSA, EVA legacy systems, or rack storage modules). Support matrices also note differences in carrier/tray requirements, hot-swap bay tolerances, and firmware requirements that can affect interoperability.

Server and array compatibility checklist

• Confirm HPE server family compatibility (ProLiant model and generation)
• Verify drive tray/carrier model — some drives require model-specific caddies
• Match SAS controller HBA firmware requirements to drive firmware
• Check z-height clearance (some mobile or blade chassis have tight clearance)
• Validate maximum supported drive capacity per backplane or enclosure

Firmware, authentication, and HPE Smart Components

HPE-certified drives often come with vendor-specific firmware enabling enhanced monitoring via HPE management tools (iLO, SSA, HPE OneView, SSM). Firmware versions can influence drive behavior under error conditions, error recovery timeouts (ERASE/ERR REC), and reporting via S.M.A.R.T. attributes. For enterprise deployments, it’s recommended to align drive firmware to the firmware baseline used across the fleet.

Management tips

• Record firmware versions of newly deployed drives for lifecycle tracking
• Use HPE management utilities to read vendor-specific attributes and predictive failure warnings
• Apply vendor-supplied firmware updates only after validation in a test cluster

Use cases and deployment patterns

The HPE 693651-003 1.2TB 10K SAS drive family is commonly used in the following patterns:

Virtualization and mixed workloads

In virtualized environments, 10K drives are frequently used for VM boot volumes, mid-tier application storage, and larger OS volumes where cost controls prevent a full flash deployment. They perform well for workloads that benefit from modest seek rates but don’t require SSD latencies.

Database and transactional systems

Small- and medium-sized database instances that require consistent random IOPS per dollar often use arrays built from 10K SAS drives. Proper RAID configuration (RAID 10 or RAID 6 depending on redundancy needs) combined with write-back cache and battery-backed cache on controllers yields strong transactional throughput.

Backup and nearline storage

While not a substitute for high-capacity nearline drives, 1.2TB 10K SAS drives can be used for fast access layers in tiered storage architectures—index stores, catalog servers, or intermediate backup staging where relatively faster access is required for restore operations.

RAID design and resilience

Choosing the right RAID level for a drive population affects both performance and resiliency. For HPE 1.2TB 10K SAS drives, administrators typically choose between RAID 10 (striped mirrors) for maximum performance and RAID 6 for capacity-efficient redundancy with double-parity protection. RAID rebuild times, rebuild impact on performance, and sustained throughput during rebuild must be part of architecture planning.

Best-practice RAID guidance

• For IO-intensive workloads, prefer RAID 10 for lower latency and predictable performance.
• For capacity and fault tolerance, RAID 6 provides better usable capacity at the cost of longer rebuilds.
• Minimize rebuild window exposure by avoiding unnecessarily large RAID group sizes for spinning media.
• Monitor rebuilds; consider hot spares for faster automatic recovery.

Power, thermal, and density considerations

Deploying multiple 10K drives in dense enclosures increases both power draw and heat output compared with slower-spinning HDDs or SSDs. Datacenter planners should account for per-bay power consumption, HVAC capacity, and airflow patterns, especially in high-density blade or rack-mount designs.

Practical tips

• Validate per-chassis power budgets for maximum populated drive trays.
• Follow HPE cooling recommendations for blade and rack systems when mixing HDD and SSD types.
• Consider tiered cooling and thermal monitoring via server management tools.

Comparison: 1.2TB 10K SAS vs other storage options

Understanding how this drive type stacks against alternatives helps determine where it fits within a storage strategy.

Versus 7.2K NL-SAS or SATA nearline drives

10K SAS drives deliver substantially better random IOPS and lower latency than 7.2K nearline drives, at a higher cost and lower capacity per spindle. Use 10K drives for active working sets where latency matters; use 7.2K nearline drives for bulk capacity and archival tiers.

Versus SSDs (SAS or NVMe)

SSDs provide orders-of-magnitude higher IOPS and lower latency, but at substantially higher cost per GB. Many modern architectures use a hybrid approach: SSDs for hot data and metadata, 10K SAS drives for warm tiers where a balance of cost and performance matters.

Environmental and regulatory considerations

Enterprise drives must comply with regional environmental standards (RoHS, WEEE) and often carry certifications or declarations for safe disposal and recycling. Data destruction requirements for end-of-life drives (secure erase, degaussing, shredding) should align with organizational and legal obligations for data protection.

End-of-life handling best practices

• Use secure erase tools approved by HPE or trusted third parties.
• Document chain-of-custody when disposing of drives containing sensitive data.
• Consider professional media destruction if regulatory compliance demands physical destruction.

Comparative shopping checklist — questions to ask before purchase

• Is this an OEM new part or a refurbished/recycled unit?
• Does the seller provide serial-level verification and warranty terms?
• What is the exact z-height of the drive and is it compatible with my chassis?
• Are firmware versions aligned across the deployment to avoid compatibility issues?
• Does the controller/backplane support 6 Gb/s SAS natively?
• What is the expected rebuild time for the array configuration I plan to use?

Metrics and testing

When benchmarking drives for a given workload, measure random read/write IOPS at varying queue depths, sustained sequential throughput, average latency percentiles (P50/P99), and power draw under typical and peak conditions. Use representative test profiles: database OLTP patterns, virtualization mixed-read/write patterns, and large-file sequential copy scenarios to understand how the drive family will behave in production.

Recommended test metrics

• Random 4K and 8K IOPS across queue depths 1–32
• Sustained sequential throughput for large-block transfers (128K+)
• Latency percentiles (median, 95th, 99th)
• Power draw under idle and active states
• Rebuild time simulation for the chosen RAID topology

Related subcategories and complementary products

Buyers exploring the 1.2TB 10K SAS category often evaluate adjacent categories for a balanced storage architecture:

Complementary components

• HPE SAS HBAs and RAID controllers with battery-backed cache
• Server drive carriers and caddies specific to ProLiant models
• NVMe or SAS SSDs for caching and tiering
• Hot-swap enclosures, JBODs, and SAN expansion shelves
• HPE OneView or SSA for monitoring and inventory

Final practical notes for operations teams

While planning procurement and operations for HPE 1.2TB 10K SAS drives, document standard operating procedures for hot-swap, failure response, firmware patching, and asset disposal. Maintain consistent firmware baselines and test spare drives in a lab environment before they are placed into production. Keep pairing and cabling diagrams updated to make physical replacements straightforward and reduce human error during maintenance windows.

Quick-reference operational checklist

• Label drive bays and maintain bay-to-VM/volume mapping documentation.
• Keep a pool of firmware-matched spares for rapid replacement.
• Automate health alerts and integrate them into incident management flow.
• Schedule periodic audits of drive inventory and health statistics.

Discoveries for integrators and system architects

System architects should view the HPE 693651-003 class drives as flexible building blocks—excellent for mixed workloads, mid-tier performance tiers, and cost-conscious environments where SSDs are not yet economical for all tiers. For integrators, maintaining part number rigor, firmware hygiene, and clear documentation for drive carriers and firmware levels reduces post-deployment surprises and keeps service windows predictable.

Appendix: useful search and procurement phrases

• "HPE 693651-003 1.2TB 10K SAS replacement"
• "HPE 1.2TB SAS 6Gb 2.5 inch drive compatibility list"
• "693651-003 ProLiant support matrix"
• "HPE certified refurbished 1.2TB SAS HDD"