Dell PowerVault Hard Drives
Dell PowerVault hard drives are qualified by part number rather than by capacity alone: for MD3 arrays, Dell supports only drives whose Dell EMC part number appears in the support matrix. PowerVault drives come as 2.5-inch 10K and 15K SAS and as 2.5-inch and 3.5-inch nearline SAS, at 6Gb/s or 12Gb/s, with instant secure erase (ISE) and self-encrypting (SED) versions of many of them. We test every PowerVault drive in-house, on receipt and again before it ships.
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Dell 1D0F5-NEW 2.4TB 10K SAS 2.5" 12Gbps Hard Drive | Seagate ST2400MM0159Availability: Available by QuoteManufacturer: Dell Condition: New 1 Year WarrantyRequest PricingOut of stock - Dell FNW88 1TB 7.2K NL SAS 3.5" 6Gbps Hard Drive | Seagate ST1000NM0023Availability: Only 1 leftManufacturer: Dell Condition: Refurbished 1 Year WarrantyBuy Now$16.99
- Dell YF87J-NEW 10TB 7.2K NL SAS 3.5" 12Gbps Hard Drive | ST10000NM0256 | PV MEAvailability: Available by QuoteManufacturer: Dell Condition: New 1 Year WarrantyRequest PricingOut of stock
- Dell NT1X2-NEW 4TB 7.2K NL SAS 3.5" 12Gbps ISE Hard Drive HUS726T4TALS200 PV MEAvailability: Available by QuoteManufacturer: Dell Condition: New 1 Year WarrantyRequest PricingOut of stock
- Dell HV5CH-NEW 10TB 7.2K NL SAS 3.5" 12Gbps ISE Hard Drive | ST10000NM0598 PV MEAvailability: Available by QuoteManufacturer: Dell Condition: New 1 Year WarrantyRequest PricingOut of stock
PowerVault drives by form factor and speed
PowerVault hard drives fall into four groups by spindle speed and size, and every group is built at 6Gb/s and 12Gb/s.
| Drive type | Size | Where it fits best |
|---|---|---|
| 15K SAS | 2.5-inch | The fastest spinning tier of an MD3 or ME array |
| 10K SAS | 2.5-inch | Performance volumes with more capacity per drive |
| 7.2K NL-SAS | 2.5-inch | Capacity in 2.5-inch enclosures |
| 7.2K NL-SAS | 3.5-inch | Bulk capacity in 3.5-inch enclosures and dense shelves |
Expansion shelves draw on the same drives. Dell's MD34xx/38xx matrix attaches up to nine MD1200 or MD1220 enclosures to an MD3 array for 120 drive slots, or up to 15 for 192 slots with the premium feature, so check MD1200 hard drives for such a shelf against the same part-number table, and Dell's ME5 support matrix applies the same rule to ME5 arrays. Some PowerVault drives are 4K-sector models, so match the sector format as well as the part number. Solid-state tiers for the same arrays are on PowerVault SSDs, controllers and expansion EMMs on PowerVault Controllers, complete systems on Dell PowerVault, and SAS vs SATA explains the interfaces.
Drive bays and drive rules by PowerVault family
Each PowerVault family has its own drive layout and its own drive rules, and Dell's support matrices set both. For the MD and ME5 families alike, Dell supports only drivers and firmware that Dell releases, and the MD matrices list a firmware revision against every qualified drive.
| Family | Drive bays | Host connection | Drive rules in Dell's support matrix |
|---|---|---|---|
| MD32xx/36xx (MD3200, MD3220, MD3200i, MD3220i, MD3600i/f, MD3620i/f) | 12 x 3.5-inch or 24 x 2.5-inch, by model | 6 Gbps SAS, 1 or 10 Gbps iSCSI, or 8 Gbps Fibre Channel | Matrix part numbers only; 12 Gbps drives negotiate to 6 Gbps; no SED SSDs and no 4Kn drives |
| MD34xx/38xx (MD3400, MD3420, MD3800i/f, MD3820i/f) | 12 x 3.5-inch or 24 x 2.5-inch, by model | 12 Gbps SAS, 10 Gbps iSCSI or 16 Gbps Fibre Channel | The same four rules as the MD32xx/36xx |
| MD dense arrays (MD3260, MD3460, MD3660, MD3860) | Drawer enclosures: 120 drive slots per array by default, 180 with a premium feature key; the MD3060e expansion holds up to 60 drives | As for the series each belongs to | At least 20 drives per dense enclosure, four in the first row of each drawer; no 3.5-inch 15K or 10K drives |
| ME5 (ME5012, ME5024, ME5084) | 12 x 3.5-inch, 24 x 2.5-inch or 84 x 3.5-inch | 12 Gbps SAS, 1/10 Gbps or 25 Gbps iSCSI, or 16/32 Gbps Fibre Channel | No drive already deployed in an ME4 system; SED use needs every drive to be a SED |
