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September 17th, 2025 16:16
Is there a way to transform a Compellent Series 40 into a general-purpose server?
I have read somewhere that these machines were basically a regular server with custom firmware and rebranded/sell as an appliance.
I tried to install a Linux distro but it wont detect any disk i connect, is there any way it can be configured to use it as a server?
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DELL-Charles R
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September 17th, 2025 20:39
Hello,
Trying to repurpose a Dell Compellent Series 40 (e.g., SC4020) into a general-purpose server is not supported by Dell and there no guidance for such a task.
The system uses Compellent-specific RAID controllers that do not expose physical disks in a standard way.
These controllers are designed to work only with Dell Storage Center OS, not general-purpose operating systems like Linux or Windows.
The Dell SC4020 storage array does not have any PCIe slots.
The device is a storage system with dual-controller architecture, where all I/O is handled by the controllers.
The firmware is customized and locked to Dell’s storage appliance environment.
Dell does not support repurposing Compellent systems for general computing.
No documentation, firmware updates, or drivers are provided for such use cases.