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2773
PowerEdge T330 Eight Drives No Raid Controller
I haven't used the T330 before, and am considering buying one.
My question is this:
If I buy a T330 without a Raid controller, if I install my own SATA PCIe controller, and find four drive caddys, is there any reason I wouldn't be able to use a total of eight drives?
I would like use a dumb non Raid LSI HBA SAS/SATA PCIe card to control all eight drives, or maybe four from the motherboard and four from the PCIe controller.
(This is the recommended approach for FreeNAS, they suggest to avoid Raid controllers)
If I find the four caddys would there be anything else I am missing?
It seems there is only one model of T330 where the SATA backplane always has all eight Sata connectors, and I won't need to chase down a 4x drive cage, or another 4x SATA backplane.
If I understand correctly, and everything is there, except for the SATA controller, this is a big advantage over HP, where I would have to find drive cages and maybe stub cables.
Thanks for any help.
Just want to confirm,
DELL-Daniel My
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November 1st, 2019 11:00
Hello
I would not purchase the system with the expectation that you will be able to use an unsupported storage controller with the backplane. You will likely encounter issues attempting to use an unsupported controller attached to the backplane.
The T330 only has one backplane option, it comes with an x8 3.5" backplane. It doesn't matter what configuration you order, you will have the same 8 slot backplane. The slots available will be determined by the storage controller that you are using. If you order the system set up to use the embedded storage controller(S130, I think) it will only support a maximum of 4 drives, slots 0-3. Slots 4-7 will be covered up by a plastic blanking panel. That panel can be easily removed to provide access to the remaining slots.
If you want to use all 8 slots you will need to use something other than the embedded SATA controller as your storage controller. Upgrading from the embedded SATA controller to a hardware storage controller is not supported. We don't have kits or a process for the upgrade. You may not be able to purchase the parts necessary from us. Swapping between hardware controllers only requires the controller to be swapped, all of the cabling is the same between the supported hardware storage controllers.
To upgrade from the S130 to an H330/H730 you will need the PERC, new SAS cables, and maybe an LED cable. Also, the system does not come with extra drive carriers. We sell carriers with drives in a kit, we don't sell carriers by themselves. If you order the system with 1 drive you will get 1 carrier and the rest of the slots will have blanks.
Thanks
camfoo
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November 2nd, 2019 00:00
You my friend, are an asset to Dell Corp.
Thanks for the detailed answer.
JoeTom
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October 23rd, 2021 21:00
Hi Sir Daniel,
Sorry to hijack this comment section, I have the same issue with my Dell T330, The Backplane suddenly Died, so i'm planning to use the 6 pin do you know the pinout color coding on this?
There are too many sellers of cables and i can see the cables wiring is not same on all sellers,
PLEASE PLEASE HELP
Dell-Martin S
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October 25th, 2021 07:00
Hi JoeTom,
here are the Partnumbers:
6JY5Y
ASSY,CBL,SATA,MB,X8BP,T330
SATA signal cable, Mothboard to backplane for X4 HDD (SW RAID) config
P9VFY
ASSY,CBL,SAS,PERC,BP,8HD,T330
SAS signal cable, PERC to backplane for X8 HDD (HW RAID) configs
Did you have futher questions?
Regards Martin
rickh-connectitconsulting.com
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November 12th, 2022 10:00
Hello All, I too have a PowerEdge T330 in production running Windows Server 2016. The server has a RAID 5 configuration using the S130 integrated controller and I need to add additional storege (mirrored)which will surpass the 4 bay S130 limit. Can I install an H330 and use all 8 bays without harming the exiting RAID 5? Can I run both contollers (software/hardware RAID) simultaneously, booting from the S130 and configuring RAID 1 on the H330? Thanks in advance.
DELL-Shine K
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November 13th, 2022 06:00
Connecting the backplane to both S130 and H330 same time is not supported. Not supported does not mean it will not work. As it is not supported it is not validated, hence we can not guarantee that it will work.
rickh-connectitconsulting.com
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November 15th, 2022 05:00
Thank you. I guess it will be a matter of trial and error. The spec sheet for the S130 says it can support up to 10 drives btu I couldn't find a cable that would plug into the motherboard connector and support both drive bays. That would have made things much easier. Cheers!
Ryan Waters
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February 21st, 2024 15:22
@DELL-Shine K
I am now in a similar situation. So, with an existing RAID5 on the embedded S130 (4 disks), we would have to replace the S130 with the H330? If so, I understand I would then have to migrate or clone my virtual disks back to the new array (once the new controllers and disks are online). Just want to be clear that this is possible before I go down that road.