3tb Drive only Showing 2tb on SAS 6/iR Controller

Question

To all,

I have a Dell PE T410 system with a Dell SAS 6/iR controller in it. I recently added a Western Digital 3TB drive to it but the Windows 2012 R2 OS and OpenManager software only shows about 2tb. Is there some firmware update for the controller to enable it to display the full 3tb?

John

Daniel My · Accepted Answer

Hello

Is there some firmware update for the controller to enable it to display the full 3tb?

No, the SAS6iR does not support drive sizes larger than 2TB.

Hard Drive Controllers –

IMPORTANT NOTE! Only the Dell H700 and H800 currently support the 3TB drives (H200 will add support later this year) - NO earlier controllers, such as the PERC4/5/6, SAS5/6 (or ANY other Dell controller not mentioned) have this support and in some cases, even though you may be able to see the drive, this has NOT been tested or validated, so possible data loss could be experienced. ONLY use the Dell H700 and H800 with the proper firmware to ensure a tested and validated >2TB solution! For non-Dell controllers, contact the controller vendor for their support statement on >2TB drives.

Only PERC7 and later controllers support drive sizes larger than 2TB. If you run older controllers in pass-through/non-RAID/JBOD then you may see the full drive size.

Thanks

johncly55 · Answer

Thanks for the response Daniel...I was just reading through the link...so it looks like if I want to support 3tb drives my options are:

1 - Upgrade the controller to a Dell H200, H700 or H800 the link appears to be old so I'm assuming the H200 support 3tb drive now?
- Are the H200, H700 and H800 supported in the PE T410?
2 - Attempt the pass-through/non-RAID/JBOD option...I looked in the SAS controller interface during POST but didn't see a way to set this...is there a link for instruction on how this is done?

If I upgrade/switch the controller to one mentioned...will I loose the OS/Data on the current drives?

Thanks for the support,
John

johncly55 · Answer

Thanks Daniel for the response...I was just reading through the link...so it looks like if I want to support 3tb drives my options are:   1 - Upgrade the controller to a Dell H200, H700 or H800 the link appears to be old so I'm assuming the H200 support 3tb drive now?      - Are the H200, H700 and H800 supported in the PE T410? 2 -  Attempt the pass-through/non-RAID/JBOD option...I looked in the SAS controller interface during POST but didn't see a way to set this...is there a link for instruction on how this is done?   If I upgrade/switch the controller to one mentioned...will I loose the OS/Data on the current drives?   Thanks for the support, John

theflash1932 · Answer

1. Yes, the H200 and H700 are supported on the T410.

2. You don't "set" anything ... you leave the drives unconfigured in the CTRL-C utility, deleting any arrays they might be a part of. It does not work for all drives though.

If I upgrade/switch the controller to one mentioned...will I loose the OS/Data on the current drives?

You can migrate VD/data from a SAS 6 to the H200, but NOT to the H700, BUT there will likely be no way to expand your 2TB RAID array to 3TB. So, since you are likely looking at a backup/restore scenario anyway, you may as well go with the H700 now instead of the low-end H200.

johncly55 · Answer

Thanks for the info.

We'll probably replace it with the H700. I notice the SAS 6/IR has two 32 pin connectors connecting 4 hard drive each. But the Dell PERC H700 has two mini port type connectors. So it looks like we'll need to replace the cables also.

Is there any way to tell which cable I need to order? I found this on Amazon but wasn't sure if its the right one:

"HighPoint Internal Mini-SAS to 4SATA(SFF8087 to SATA), 1M (3 feet) Int-MS-1M4S"

John

PowerEdge Hardware General

3tb Drive only Showing 2tb on SAS 6/iR Controller

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