Mix SAS HDD with SATA SSD in RAID

Question

Hello,

On which level is this possible?

Can I mix SATA and SAS disk on the RAID controller (PERC H710), group or virtual disk level? Server PowerEdge R720.

The configuration I want to become is:

PERC controller:

- 2 SAS HDD in RAID 1 (for the OS)

- 2 SATA SSD in RAID 1 (for Log files)

- 6 SAS HDD in RAID 10 (for Database)

Should this be in separate RAID groups?

Can I combine SATA and SAS in a RAID group, virtual disk or only on the controller niveau?

Will all my drives will be visible in Windows, not depending if it's SATA or SAS?

Thanks!

DELL-Chris H · Accepted Answer

Vellemannv,

The Perc Controller configuration you have shown would be fine. You can mix SAS and SATA drives on the controller, it can handle both. You can have SAS arrays and SATA arrays present on the same controller. You can NOT have SAS and SATA drives present in the SAME array though.

The OS will see the different virtual drives as well.

Let me know if this helps.

DELL-Marco B · Answer

Yes, the Dell PERC H330 controller will allow 12Gbps SAS drives and 6Gbps SATA drives to operate at their respective maximum speeds, even when connected to the same backplane.

Vellemannv · Answer

Hello Dell-Chris H,

Thank you for your answer!

And on which level the OS sees the disk drives? On the group level or the virtual disk level?

For example,

1) I have 1 disk group with 2 virtual disks which contains 2 physical disks

2) 1 disk group with 1 virtual disks which contains 4 physical disks

3) 2 disk groups which contains each 1 virtual disks of 2 physical disks

I presume that in situation 1 the OS sees 2 disks, in situation 2 only one disk and in situation 3 also 2 disks, which is the best situation for mixed disks.

DELL-Chris H · Answer

Vellemannv,

The OS will see the Virtual Disks. The only way to view the physical disks from within the OS is with Open Manage Server Administrator, which is the management tool we provide. You can find it here - http://www.dell.com/support/drivers/us/en/19/DriverDetails/Product/poweredge-r720?driverId=CWHRG&osCode=WS8R2&fileId=3267736217&languageCode=en&categoryId=SM

With OMSA installed you can monitor and manage the server. Including the controller and physical disks.

BryanBelman · Answer

'You can NOT have SAS and SATA drives present in the SAME array though' Thanks Chris_Hawk.  I am trying to do a cheat to increase the OS boot drive size of 2 servers I built recently but I just realized the boot drives on these M630's are 2 x 120GB SSD. I was hoping to replace 1 with a larger drive and let it re-mirror.  Then replace the other 120GB SAS drive with a larger one.  Then when it is done, you go into Disk Manage on Windows 2012R2 or higher and you can extend the C: drive to see the additional space. That is NOT going to work here unless I can find 400GB SSD drivers, swapping in a 300GB SAS drive is not going to work.  I tried and then googled your answer...... !! bummer for me.  I will have to backup and restore to new larger SAS drives. Thanks, Bryan

wphostingsupport · Answer

Thanks. Regards. James From wp-hostingsupport.com

Pelomannen · Answer

So it's the same backplane for SAS and SATA (Dell R630)? Just bought SAS SSDs but realized that the servers was missing SAS-controllers and cables so I need to know what to buy :)

byte_pl · Answer

I was wondering if using PERCH330  on 12GB SAS drives in one volume(raid1) and 6gb sata in other volume (Raid10 od jbod) will enable drives to work with their maximum speed respectively 12GB and 6GB while plugged into the same backplane?

PowerEdge HDD/SCSI/RAID

Mix SAS HDD with SATA SSD in RAID

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