Will a Dell PowerEdge R320 support 8TB + drives?

[Trianian]

There seems to be no documentation as to whether this machine will support 8 and 10TB drives. It has a Sandybridge Xeon E5-2407 with an integrated PERC H310 RAID controller. I suspect the controller will work if configured properly, but wonder about the speed.

System Specs:
http://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/19/product-support/servicetag/J84CH02/configuration

RAID controller spec sheet:
http://www.dell.com/downloads/global/products/pvaul/en/dell-perc-h310-spec-sheet.pdf

Thanks

 

[Dice]

Have you found anything indicating the server would not support large drives?

 

[Trianian]

You're probably right. I haven't built a new Freenas box in a few years, and recall (at some point) there were some hard-drive size limits with certain systems.

I'm also wondering if the PERC H310 RAID controller will be work well with Freenas.

 

[gpsguy]

You would need to flash the controller to IT mode.

Do a forum and/or Google search regarding flashing a Perc H310 to IT Mode. I did a quick search and saw that some users ending up bricking the mini (integrated?) card.

These instructions - https://techmattr.wordpress.com/201...-flashing-to-it-mode-dell-perc-h200-and-h310/ specifically gives a "WARNING: If you have an Integrated, Mini or Mini Mono Perc H310 do NOT try to crossflash with these steps."

Some users on the forum have been able to crossflash certain Perc's. I'd be inclined to use one of the tried and true HBA's like an IBM M1015 or some of the other LSI models.

... with an integrated PERC H310

 

[Trianian]

Thanks.

Yes, it seems this system does have the Mini Mono and will have to be replaced with a card that's flashable to IT mode.

The IBM card seems a great choice. I'm guessing it's low profile enough to fit in this server? Are the SAS ports and cabling in the Dell system the same as those on the IBM card, or will new cables be necessary?

Thanks again!

 

[c32767a]

Thanks.

Yes, it seems this system does have the Mini Mono and will have to be replaced with a card that's flashable to IT mode.

The IBM card seems a great choice. I'm guessing it's low profile enough to fit in this server? Are the SAS ports and cabling in the Dell system the same as those on the IBM card, or will new cables be necessary?

Thanks again!

Be aware the Dell baseboard management and LCD may complain about the lack of the expected H310. You can always provision the drives in passthrough mode. you won't get SMART data from the drives, but the bare drives are exposed to FreeNAS. I have one in my rack running the 11 nightly with 4 4TB SATA drives in it right now.

 

[Trianian]

Be aware the Dell baseboard management and LCD may complain about the lack of the expected H310. You can always provision the drives in passthrough mode. you won't get SMART data from the drives, but the bare drives are exposed to FreeNAS. I have one in my rack running the 11 nightly with 4 4TB SATA drives in it right now.

Thanks, good to know.

Would using one of the non Mini-Mono H310 cards be a better solution? They seem readily available, and there are many reports they can be successfully flashed to IT mode.

 

[c32767a]

Thanks, good to know.

Would using one of the non Mini-Mono H310 cards be a better solution? They seem readily available, and there are many reports they can be successfully flashed to IT mode.

The issue is the Dell onboard management tools expect a PERC card with PERC firmware to be in place, if you replace it or crossflash it, it no longer has the Dell hooks, so the firmware will complain. I have a couple T320s with LSI cards in place of PERCs. They work, but the LCDs are orange and the firmware whines when the machine boots. We started using FreeNAS at $dayjob with dell hardware and had to convert. Now we build SM based boxes. They're cheaper and more flexible, and they don't complain when we use non-Dell hardware.. (They also boot quite a bit faster.. :) )

Not saying Dell won't work, but unless you already have the hardware, IMHO you'd be better off building or buying a Supermicro based box.

 

[horizonbrave]

Hi :)
does please anybody actually knows about drive-size limitation of the H310 card as asked by the OP?
But the one I have it's not a "mini" but I'd still like to find out if it can see 5, 8 or 10TB drives

Many thanks!

 

[Ericloewe]

LSI SAS2 and SAS3 controllers have no known size limitations.