Largest disk size when H840 connected to MD1200 controllers?

Question

Currently, I have 24x 6TB disks connected (using an Equallogic 6110 enclosure) —yes, it is amazing how things work even though this is not at all a "Dell-supported config". It works great as-is.

My current drives are 512e (sector), and I am wondering whether I could replace the drives with 4Kn sector drives, 16TB or 24TB? 24TB drives would give me 576 TB. would there be any addressing issues ?

I see on Reddit that 16TB drives have been working fine on MD1200 controllers connected to H810 or newer, and 4Kn drives are supported on H830 and newer. So, spec-wise I should be ok, I'd think.

Do any of you use 4Kn drives on H830 or H840 with MD1200 controllers? If so, what is the largest drive size?

DELL-Joey C · Answer

Hi,

Your setup with Equallogic and MD is very ambitious, I've not known that it can work. You would be the first to share.

Anyways, MD1200 only support PERC 8 series controllers: https://www.dell.com/support/manuals/en-uk/powervault-md1200/md12xx_sm_pub/supported-controllers?guid=guid-829faf7d-bc22-448c-9a45-c8165d5192af&lang=en-us. And PERC 8 do not support 4Kn drives. PERC H830 and H840 would have compatibility issue with MD1200.

But if you looking for the public users' feedback on your question, I'll monitor this post and leave to the public's discussion.

CU.Dell.User · Answer

Yes, not supported, but it works great, and has been running for over 5 years. I actually have two Equallogic boxes connected to MD1200 controllers. This one (the one I was hoping to use with 4 Kn drives) using an H840 card sitting in an R730. (The other older one using an H810 card in an R710 has 24x 4TB drives).

Does 512e vs 4 Kn compatibility depend both on the perc card and the MD1200 controller, or only on the perc card.

I have read in multiple places on the net that the MD1200 controller is “dumb” and simply passes infor to the perc card. Granted, not everything on the internet is true.

DELL-Joey C · Answer

Hi,

Well, to be honest, I now can't be sure what to let you know. The connectivity between Equallogic and MD is beyond paper, and you have done it. If we look at the MD architecture like what you mentioned, the EMM is just a management that controls data path. It relies on the PERC controller for RAID and detect capability. But here's the documentation stating MD do not support 4Kn: https://www.dell.com/support/manuals/en-uk/powervault-md1200/md12xx_sm_pub/supported-physical-disk-drives?guid=guid-e5119c08-197a-4faf-805e-ac744fd48ca6&lang=en-us

CU.Dell.User · Answer

Hello @DELL-Joey C,

Would it be possible for you to probe other Dell engineers to verify the statement "the EMM is just a management that controls the data path. It relies on the PERC controller for RAID and detection capability"?If that statement is correct, then the disclaimer at the link may be a statement of "supported" vs "not supported", and not a reference to "will work" vs "will not work". Thanks.

DELL-Charles R · Answer

Hello,

You are correct. The linked document says "not supported". People do a lot of things that are not supported. It doesn't mean it won't work, it just means Dell won't support the configuration.

I'll note the PERC9s were the first to support 4Kn(H730, H330, H830, etc), so the H840 should also.

PowerVault

Largest disk size when H840 connected to MD1200 controllers?

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