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How do I find the maximum disk size I can use with an xx2x2 raid card?
I have a Dell C6100 chassis in to which I want to install the xx2x2 (LSI 2008 I believe?) SATA III mezzanine RAID cards.
How can I find out (other than trial and error) what the largest disk size I can use with these cards is?
I already have two C6100s running with one 3TB disk per blade (non RAID) which I gather is the maximum for the on-board SATA controllers however for the RAID fitted blades I'd like to use larger disks, 4TB or more, if possible - but at the same time I don't want to waste money on disks that then get truncated if the card can't access all the space.
3 x 4TB disks in RAID 1e would give me just under 6TB of usable space per blade, which is what I'd like to aim for. Sadly the cards don't seem to do RAID 5. I've already obtained one xx2x2 fitted blade and run it with 3 x 500MB SSDs, so all I need to know is the max disk size I can use.
I've searched Google and various hardware forums but not found any information, and while the C6100 owner's manual I've downloaded mentions the RAID cards it does not specify the maximum disk size. Is this information available anywhere?
DELL-Daniel My
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November 2nd, 2017 15:00
Hello
Maximum supported disk size is not a specification you will find on most modern controllers. The maximum supported size will be the largest disk we validate for the system. Controllers capable of addressing over 2TB can theoretically support drive sizes far beyond what is available. Until drive sizes approach the theoretical limits of the controllers it is unlikely a maximum size will be stated.
Thanks
Pyromancer
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November 6th, 2017 08:00
So I can use say 4TB disks in my systems and they will be seen as 4TB?
That's good to know. I added 4TB disks to a fairly modern Dell 1u system last year and it only recognised them as 2TB each, so I don't want to make the same mistake here, but I gather from your answer I could use any currently available disks (WD are offering 10TB drives at time of writing) and they'll be seen correctly? Good to know. Thanks!