Can I run a SAS drive on a SATA hard drive controller?

While the interface connector on both SATA drives (Serial ATA) and SAS drives (Serial Attached SCSI) may look the same they are actually very different.  Subsequently, a SATA hard drive controller is not capable of running a SAS drive.  However, the same can not be said of SAS hard drive controllers which typically can support both SAS and SATA drives simultaneously.  Best practice is to check the hard drive controller specifications to verify the type of controller that you have and the type of drive that it will support.