R610 with Perc 700h and which large SSD will work wo errors

Question

I'm running sybase database on a R610 win2012 VM off a 7200 RPM SAS raid 1.   I want to move the VM to a new Raid 1 made up of two SSDs. What is the newest DELL SSD that will work?   I've seen some as old as 2012 and most of them now are refurbs (not sure how good a old SSD is)  and the newer SSDs were never tested by dell.    What if I plugged in a newer 12 GBS SSD (I know it will step down to 6 due to the 700h.   But will it work?    Or should I stick with finding a pair of 2012 dell SSDs? Dell 800GB 6Gbps SATA WI MLC 2.5 SSD S3710 (DPD14) DELL VDPRV INTEL S3500 Series 800GB P/N DPF1J for 2.5' 800 GB SAS SSD and P/N R2PJ7 for 2.5' 400 GB SAS SSD same as sandisk 6hs-400g-21 DELL VDPRV INTEL S3500 Series 800GB Intel S3710 400GB SSD I could probably get away with 400 GB but if the 800 is not too much more I would opt for that.   Will all of these work equally well on the R610 Perc 700h?

RAJ54 · Accepted Answer

For anyone with a Dell R610/perc h700 in need for enterprise SSDs are a decent price.

I am very very happy to report that the newer 12G/s SSDs work fine on the R610 with Perc h700 controller. They negotiate down to 6G/s speed of the h700 but the drives give 600+ MB/s r/w from a hyper V VM and around 70,000 IOPs.

No errors, no warning etc.

For those with an older (but working fine) server the options for SSDs are a bit antiquated.

Approved SSDs are SATA2 and no SAS SSDs on the list because none were available for testing when the R610 came out.

The available SSDs on the approved list are either no longer made or if you can get them they are all refurbed with no warranty.

I purchased two 400 gig HUSMH8040BSS200 Enterprise drives. They are labled Dell Enterprise Plus PN OB32017. SG-08JYJK-HGS00-78F-OE9V-AO1.

They are actually made for Dell by HGST Ultrastar® SSD800MH.B HUSMH8040BSS200 / 0B31071.

Cost was $430.00 for a pair. Brand new too.

Dell-DylanJ · Answer

Hello,

I searched on our sales webpage to see what SSD options we had available for the R610. I didn't find any current offerings, unfortunately.

https://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/pfydresults/202469?categoryId=5683

As for plugging in a modern SSD that wasn't validated, you'd really be rolling the dice. I've certainly seen some work, but more that didn't. May take that with a grain of salt, since being in support, we're much more likely to see the things that don't work. The two drives you listed, VDPRV and R2PJ7, are both validated for the server and should work without issue.

The PERC does support nearly a dozen different Intel SSDs, so I'd think that Intel storage would offer you a reasonably good chance of success.

334TT - 480GB Intel SSD

6XJ05 - 400GB Intel SSD

9T0ND - 800GB Intel SSD

VDPRV - 800GB Intel SSD

MCCKT - 600GB Intel SSD

As for the VDPRV drive you mentioned, I found one on Server Supply for about $300.

https://www.serversupply.com/SSD/SATA-6GBPS/800GB/DELL/VDPRV.htm

DPF1J is more expensive, but it's SAS instead of SATA. https://www.serversupply.com/SSD/SAS-6GBPS/800GB/DELL/DPF1J.htm

I couldn't find performance numbers on the SanDisk drive, but I'd expect it to be faster, since it's SAS.

RAJ54 · Answer

Thanks for the reply. Mostly what I found were refurbished SSDs which if in a server from 2012 might be iffy.

I did roll some dice on a pair of SAS dell SSDs that are 12 gb/c interface.

The go under the name Dell Enterprise Plus made by HGST in 2017 brand new 400 gb.

DELL 8JYJK 400GB 12GB/s SAS 2.5" SFF SSD HUSMH8040BSS200

Which I think are HGST Ultrastar SSD800MH.B family SSDs.

I am hoping they step down to 6gb/sec and work in raid 1. I guess if they don't I will have to look for used SSDs .

When people say "they did not work" does it not even get recognized by the h700 as a drive? I thought most drives were backwards compatible with older interfaces. ie can plug a new SATA drive in a SATA 2 port and it steps down and works fine. I thought SAS might be similar.

theflash1932 · Answer

12Gb drives are compatible with 3/6Gb interfaces/controllers, SATA 3 with SATA2/SATA2 with SATA1, SATA drives with SAS slots/controllers, etc. ... yes, they are "backward compatible".

By "not work", it can manifest in several ways:

Not recognize at all (initial neg fails)
Recognize but not configure (wrong size, type reported; can't configure in RAID, init, format, etc.)
Worst case: Recognizes and configures but drive specs (timeouts, recovery settings, etc.) cause drives to randomly go offline (kicked offline by controller)

RAJ54 · Answer

Thanks so much!

I am trying to think of the best test to do to insure its really working as intended.

I don't need anything like encryption to work. I just need to run one win 2012 VM in raid 1 and be able to pull a drive and put a new one in (in case of failure) and have it auto rebuild like my other SAS drives.

SInce its a Dell certified drive (for r620 + perc 710) I wonder if I will get (this is not a dell certified drive flag).

They are on their way, I will try to report back if it works ok.

Those older SSDs that are compatible were SATA 2 SSDs, sort of old tech and early days of SSD. Fingers crossed if this works.

Thanks again!

RAJ54 · Answer

Not sure if I need to make an entire new post so I'll ask here.

The drives say they have built in power loss protection. Which to me means I don't have to disable the cache in the drives (I've read some people do this)

And with SSDs do I still leave the h700 controller cache on for the SSDs?

RAJ54 · Answer

Just a follow up almost 2 years later. Love those HUSMH8040BSS200 drives.  SAS 400GB on h700 perc.   Fast and zero issue.  Dell Certified to so no flags.    I would buy then again.

PowerEdge Hardware General

Was this post helpful?