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T140 max HDD size
I know that this is a very common question.
I come from an HPE Proliant server.
Reding the official documents, I can see that the max size for a SATA HDD in the T140 is 2 TB, eventually could be 4 TB using ad additional PERC controller.
We are in 2019 and 4/6/8 TB sizes are very common...
At the very same HPE has such limitations, but these are because of the RAID. if not using the RAID, then there are almost no limitations on HDD size and the mix.
What is the story with Dell T140?
2 TB today is quite a non sense.
Steff70
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February 21st, 2019 06:00
Forgot to mention that I am not going to use internal SATA HDD to boot the OS
I am going to deploy ESXi booting from the internal USB stick.
theflash1932
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February 21st, 2019 07:00
There's no reason to think that the Intel C246 chipset won't support larger than 2TB drives in AHCI mode.
DO NOT USE THE EMBEDDED RAID!! The Intel chipset RAID (rebranded by Dell as the S140 controller) is complete and utter garbage. Don't use it. Ever. Change the onboard controller from RAID to AHCI. The S140 controller is limited to 2TB as a LOGICAL (RAID array) limit, so in a RAID 1, the practical limitation of drive size is 2TB (it may be an enforced logical limit on drive size for that reason).
If talking RAID, then the H-series controllers are the only ones that support drives larger than 2TB. (Go with the H740 in nearly every scenario.)
Steff70
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February 21st, 2019 07:00
So, you are saying what I was thinking:
Using the embedded software RAID, we have this limit, but using AHCI no.
Just wish to be (very) sure before eventually buying this T140.
Can you confirm?
theflash1932
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February 21st, 2019 10:00
Yes, that is what I'm saying.
I can't and won't promise you that there is a 100% chance AHCI can use +2TB drives, but it has been the case for every machine I've seen in the last several years where the scenario presented itself … Dell machines, HP, Intel boards, etc. … RAID has certain restrictions or logical limitations inherent in their implementation where 2TB is a common limit for these low-end controllers … if you think about it, anyone high-end will be using the H7x0 anyway, so low-end servers have low-end features. The S-series controllers are marketed as "budget" controllers. AHCI on any current or even modern chipset likely supports drives larger than 2TB.