Using Samsung PM9A3 U.2 disks with a PowerEdge R7515

Question

We recently purchased a PowerEdge R7515 with a PERC H740P Mini RAID controller and a 24 bay chassis configured so that slots 12-23 can be used with U.2 NVME disks. In addition to this we purchased 10x DXD9H disk caddies, 6x Samsung SATA SSDs and 4x Samsung PM9A3 U.2 disks from another company. The DXD9H caddies work fine for inserting the Samsung SATA SSDs but they are not quite right for the PM9A3 U.2 disks. The PM9A3 disks fit into the caddies fine and you can insert the disks most of the way into the (U.2) bays but they don't connect to the interfaces when in the DXD9H caddies because the connectors are not aligned correctly by a few mm. We have been able to attach, use and boot from all 4 U.2 disks when they are connected without housing them in caddies so the drives are electronically compatible and the disks work but they're not very secure having them inserted loose like that.Is there a special caddy for using U.2 disks in a R7515 or maybe there is some kind of adapter required to house disks like these?

DELL-Charles R · Accepted Answer

Hello danboid,

I don't have an exhaustive list, but I was able to verify this Customer Kit for NVMe drive , in the R7515, does have that carrier:

Part# 400-BKFR - Dell EMC PowerEdge Express Flash Ent NVMe Read Intensive U.2 Gen4 3.84TB with Carrier

https://dell.to/3DMu9KU

It not stated on that page, but drill down of the part shows it contains this carrier : DXD9H - ASSY Carrier HDD/SSD, 2.5 Inch, Metal

Are you able to verify your backplane is seated correctly?

Maybe remove and reinstall - Page 51 - https://dell.to/3xq7p17

Can you provide some pictures with it in the caddie and the alignment issue?

DiegoLopez · Answer

Hello there @danboid,

I think you are looking for a Community member answer because for a Dell technician answer perspective I am not able to find the Samsung PM9A3 as supported for the PowerEdge R7515. Therefore, I think it is a compatibility issue.

Regards.

danboid · Answer

Hi DiegoAs I said, these disks do actually work fine if you connect them without a caddy but we don't really want to leave them attached without caddies.Is there a list of U.2 SSDs that are known to fit into a R7515 using DXD9H caddies?Are Dells' U.2 disks / chassis slightly non-standard so that the connectors don't line up or is it Samsung who aren't complying here? I'm presuming there is a standard for U.2 disks and connectors. Might we have more luck if we swap them for 960GB WD Gold WDS960G1D0D U.2 Enterprise Class NVMe SSDs or are we going to have the same issue? I don't want to do that as they're half the speed of the PM9A3s.

Reybeast2 · Answer

i looked at a few of our nvme drives, from various manufacturers and measured them. The drive itself is 3 and 15/16ths inches long. This also applied to our SSD drives from various vendors all are exactly the same length and fit exactly the same way in the DXD9H carrier. And just to be sure, you are unlatching the drive, and then closing the latch when the drive is fully inserted? See pics:
#Iwork4Dell
drive in unlatched state..

PowerEdge Hardware General

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