Z440 SATA/SAS drive compatibility

[wny2016]

I have a Z440 that is running the Win 10 Pro OS off a RAID 1 array of SAS drives via a separate LSI  SAS2 2308  controller, so all of my SATA ports are free. Ideally, I'd like to add another pair of drives to a separate RAID 1 array (for data), running off the built-in SATA controller.

The HP specs for the Z440 drive controllers somewhat cryptically state, "Integrated SATA 6.0 Gb/s; LSI MegaRAID® 9270-8i SAS 6.0 Gb/s ROC RAID Card and iBBU09 Battery Backup Unit (optional); LSI 9217-4i4e 8-port SAS 6.0 Gb/s RAID (optional); Factory integrated RAID available for SATA/SAS drives (RAID 0, 0 Data, 1, and 10)"

So, it looks like the onboard drive controller is strictly SATA, but some SATA controllers are able to recognize and operate SAS drives, I know. 

1.) Does anyone know if SAS drives will run off the ordinary SATA ports on the Z440? I dunno what "factory-integrated RAID " might be, but no such controller is listed in Device Manager, so I guess this machine lacks that feature.

2.) If I can only run pure SATA drives off the built-in controller, what are the most bulletproof drives these days, say 2-3 Tb? For SAS I tend to favor Seagate Exos or Constellation Enterprise-class drives.

TIA!

[DGroves · Accepted solution]

your comment:

So, it looks like the onboard drive controller is strictly SATA, but some SATA controllers are able to recognize and operate SAS drives, I know. 

is wrong,............................SATA is a SUBSET of "SAS" not the other way around .

this means in english speak that "SAS" controllers contain the SATA command set/protocols and SATA controllers DONOT contain "SAS"  commands/protocols and will not be able to control a "SAS" device

the onboard Intel SATA ports can do intel matrix raid via the bios, you can also do software raid via the windows OS.

you might want to spend some time reading the documentation HP/Microsoft make available to you

https://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c01720221

https://www.google.com/search?q=windows+10+raid+setup&rlz=1C1SQJL_enUS909US909&oq=windows+10+raid+se...

[wny2016]

Thank you.