Dell Unity: Recommended maximum sustained IOPs per drive type

Summary: This article explains the maximum recommended sustained Input-Output Operations per Second (IOPs) per drive type on Dell Unity arrays.

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Instructions

Recommended Maximum Sustained IOPS Per Drive

  • SAS Flash 2 or 3 > 20,000 IOPS
  • SAS 15K > 350 IOPS
  • SAS 10K > 250 IOPS
  • NL-SAS > 150 IOPS 

Newer SAS Flash drives (such as SAS Flash 3) are typically used in all‑flash pools. Earlier generations (for example, SAS Flash 2) are more commonly associated with mixed‑tier pools and FAST VP or FAST Cache configurations. See the Unity Best Practices Guide for more information.  

Recommended Maximum Sustained IOPS Per Drive

Figure 1.  Maximum IOPS Recommendation Table

Affected Products

Dell EMC Unity Family
Article Properties
Article Number: 000022779
Article Type: How To
Last Modified: 07 Jul 2026
Version:  6
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