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R710 + H800 + MD122 + HP Disks - Will it work?
Hi, I tried posting this in the PowerVault group earlier but it was marked as spam (no idea why). Hopefully I'll have more luck here.
Hi Everyone, hoping someone out there can give me a definitive answer on this.
I have a PE R710 running 8 2.5" disks in RAID 5 for my home NAS setup and I'm running out of capacity. I'm looking at buying some used kit to increase storage capacity for a large FreeNAS setup.
Before I go investing in kit I want to know if what I'm going to do will actually work (it's not exactly easy/cheap returning 2U storage arrays bought on eBay, so I'd rather know it works first).
So, the plan is:
Add a H800 to the R710, the. Use mini-SAS cables to attach to an MD1220 which I'll fill with disks and use the H800 to configure them in 1 or 2 RAID 5 arrays.
The snagging points for me:
1) Will the R710, H800 and MD1220 be compatible with one another? (From googling around the tech docs I believe they are)
Tech docs - https://www.dell.com/downloads/global/products/pvaul/en/storage-powervault-md12x0-technical-guidebook.pdf
Forum posts - https://www.dell.com/community/PowerVault/Sharing-options-when-using-a-PowerVault-MD1220-with-an-R710-amp/td-p/7571341
2) I have a large number of HP 1TB SAS drives that I've inherited that I really want to use instead of having to invest in Dell certified/approved ones. I've seen very mixed reports online of whether they'll work in the MD1220. The tech docs posted above quite clearly say they won't, however there are then forum posts like this:
https://www.reddit.com/r/homelab/comments/6fsja7/dell_md1200_and_nondell_drives/
that state if you're on the latest firmware it'll work but maybe will not display debug information in the various management tools. I dont really care too much about the management tools, so long as the disks work and I can use some basic command line tools to check the status of the drives in case of failure.
I'd appreciate any help anyone can provide on this, especially if its anecdotal rather than the typical "Only Dell will work with Dell" response that Dell/Customer services would typically provide.
Thanks in advance.
DELL-Stefan R
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May 26th, 2020 00:00
Hello,
I can't comment on the HPE drives, but the R710, H800, and MD1220 should all be compatible. I confirmed the H800 as compatible with the R710 in my parts list, then you've got this bit of documentation for the H800 and the MD unit.
https://dell.to/3bWDlO8
FWIW, I hade HPE DIMMs in my R710 and had no problems. I installed an H700 aftermarket and ran unsupported drives - no issues. Your mileage may vary, but I'd expect the only point where you might run into issues would be with the drives.
muppet_3000
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May 26th, 2020 04:00
Thanks @DELL-Stefan R glad to hear that it should all be compatible.
I'm still a little bit concerned about the drives. I'll hold out a little bit longer, just in case someone's able to come back with a definitive answer.
DELL-Stefan R
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May 26th, 2020 04:00
Sure thing. No need to hurry
Have a good one!
muppet_3000
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June 19th, 2020 05:00