MD1000 + Perc 5/e, drives larger then 2TB?

Question

I have a MD1000 on a perc 5/e controller.

It currently has 5 - 2TB SATA drives and I want to expand.

Will it take a 3 or 4TB drive? I see that option on a storage site but Dell itself does not sell them larger then 2TB. I've been unable to find out if the perc 5/e can handle a drive that size.

Regards,

Dev Mgr · Accepted Answer

The PERC5 and PERC6 series will not be able to use drives over 2048GB. They can make virtual disks over that size, but they just cannot use physical disks of that size.

Only the H300/700/800 and higher support physical disks of more than 2TB.

DELL-Sam L · Accepted Answer

Hello Mikman,

As Dev Mgr stated you will need to get one of the cards listed to see the larger drives. Also if you were to get one of the newer raid controllers you will need to backup your data just in case when you import your configuration that it fails and you need to restore the configuration & or data.

Please let us know if you have any other questions.

BW-DEVELOPMENT.tech · Answer

Hi!

Are You sure that PowerWalue MD1000’s Enclosure Management Module (EMM) , that connected thru the x4 3GB SAS (SFF 8470) according the Dell's official PDF (https://i.dell.com/sites/csdocuments/Shared-Content_data-Sheets_Documents/en/powervault-md1000-specs-new.pdf), able to successfully addressing the 64bit (opposite to 32bit = 2,1Gb limitation of PERC5 / PERC6 series controllers) ?

because the 32bit limitation in previous (PERC 5 & PERC 6) controller's models are also about of electrical / mechanical limitation of SAS cables to backplain and SAS SATA-backward compatible connectors on the

Thank You for detailed answer!

DiegoLopez · Answer

Hello @bw-DEVELOPMENT.tech,

Sorry, could you please reformulate your question? How can we help you? The previous messages were about the possibility of using larget drives than 2048GB using PERC5 and PERC6. Only the H300/700/800 and higher support physical disks of more than 2TB.

I think maybe you forgot to finish your message before clicking "post". Because your message ends like this: "compatible connectors on the".... I guess something is missing.

Regards.

BW-DEVELOPMENT.tech · Answer

Dear DiegoLopez!

Sorry for mistyping:

because the 32bit limitation in previous (PERC 5 & PERC 6) controller's models are also about of electrical / mechanical limitation of SAS cables to backplain and SAS SATA-backward compatible connectors on the backplain.

DELL-Charles R · Answer

Hello BW-DEVELOPMENT.tech,

With older systems that were using a PERC5/e or PERC6/e your max drive size was 2TB. Later PERC cards you are able to by pass that drive limitation. You may be able to get an H800 you can use a 6gb connection drive and it will downgrade to 3gb as the MD1000 has a 3gb back plane. Only the PERC 5/e and PERC 6/e were validated so I can't say for sure it works and note it would be an unsupported configuration, but you may look over this thread for tips - https://www.dell.com/community/PowerVault/MD1000-with-4tb-or-6tb-sata-disks-and-H800-controller/td-p/4703232

Enclosure Management Module (EMM)

Each EMM provides data path and enclosure management functions for your enclosure, including:

• Monitoring and controlling enclosure environment elements (temperature, fans, power supplies, and

enclosure LEDs)

• Controlling access to the drives

• Communicating enclosure attributes and states to the host server

Page 12 : https://downloads.dell.com/manuals/all-products/esuprt_ser_stor_net/esuprt_powervault/powervault-md1000_owner%27s%20manual_en-us.pdf

Additional reference : Guide for Optimizing the Dell™ PowerVault™ MD1000 SAS Solution

https://downloads.dell.com/Manuals/all-products/esuprt_ser_stor_net/esuprt_powervault/powervault-md1000_white%20papers_en-us.pdf

BW-DEVELOPMENT.tech · Answer

Could You be so please to clear the role of EMM in MD1000: how EMM impact on DATA from/to HDDs?

Or May be role of EMM in MD1000 is only about controlling power up the drives and periodically scrubbing the S.M.A.R.T data from drives and gives this data up to the RAID controller ?

Thank You for detailed answer!

BW-DEVELOPMENT.tech · Answer

You are absolutely right: the H300/700/800 controller (that are based on original LSI controller, but with a modification, - custom OptROM, less ROM size for firmware, etc...) ABLE TO WORK with HDD, attached directly by SAS cable to the controller. Thus also mean that You speed would be from 3Gb/s to 6+Gb/s depend on RAID configuration and  certain HDD technology.  But in focus of this discussion thread there are EMM in MD1000's enclosure and x4 SAS cable from EMM to controller: The connector in EMM and x4 (4 line) cable limit the speed bandwidth to 3Gb/s. And on the time of creation MD1000 (~April 2007) this speed are great, because most of SATA HDDs (500-1,500 Gb capacity) and SAS HDDs (300-500 Gb capacity) are SAS1 that mean not more 3Gb/s throughput. So, in 2017-2021 You able to install SAS/SATA HDD with 3+Tb capacity each, but even You drive able to give You ~6Gb/s speed, You cannot reach more than ~3Gb/s from MD1000 even You using H300/700/800 (or IBM 1015, Dell H200/310/700/800, LSI 9211-8i controller) because of EMM and cable limitation. Am I right or I miss something important?

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MD1000 + Perc 5/e, drives larger then 2TB?

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