| General |
| Q1. |
What are the Midline (MDL) SATA capacities and part numbers? |
| A1. |
|
| |
| Q2. |
What are the Entry (ETY) SATA capacities and part numbers? |
| A2. |
|
| |
| Q3. |
Where can I find previous generation 2.5" and 3.5" SATA drives? |
| A3. |
For the previous generation of 2.5" 60GB-120GB and 3.5" 80GB-750GB 3.5" SATA hard drives, please visit:
Sata drives |
| |
| Q4. |
When should a customer use SATA HDDs? |
| A4. |
Customers should use SATA in servers and bulk storage with non-mission critical and non HDD intensive applications where minimal downtime is acceptable like static web pages, firewall, DNS, and file and print server applications. Additionally, low cost bulk storage for reference data repositories is another primary use of SATA drives. Customers are encouraged to use SAS and SCSI HDD for their mission critical and HDD intensive applications.
|
| |
| Q5. |
Where can I find more information about the new Entry and Midline SATA drives? |
| A5. |
Please click here for HP Disk Drive Brochure |
| |
| Technical questions |
| Q1. |
Where can I find SATA drive and server compatibility information? |
| A1. |
For the SATA compatibility chart, please visit Documentation and Compatibility. |
| |
| Q2. |
What are the power and cooling benefits of the SFF drives? |
| A2. |
SFF drives consume 70% less space and use 50% less power than the 3.5" drives. The smaller form factor of the drives allows systems to be designed to accommodate more drives per U increasing the total system IOPs/U. |
| |
| Q3. |
Can I mix SAS and SATA drives the same server or storage system? |
| A5. |
Yes, SAS allows the flexibility to install SAS drives, SATA drives or a mix of both SAS and SATA drives in the same box.
|
| |
| Q4. |
Is Drive Write Cache available on HP SATA drives? |
| A4. |
Yes, however HP ships SATA drives with Drive Write Cache (DWC) disabled. The preset configuration was selected to provide greater safety for our customer's drive data in case of sudden power loss, when there is no battery on the controller to protect the cache.
|
| |
| Q5. |
Can Drive Write Cache be enabled on the controller and SATA drives? |
| A5. |
Yes, please see the attached presentation for the latest servers and controllers that allow for Drive Write Cache to be enabled.
WARNING: Enabling DWC may result in loss of data if power is lost to the server and there is no power protection configured for the server. When Drive Write Cache is configured, the following best practices should be used to protect the data in case of power loss: Install a redundant power supply in the server (if available for that server). If redundant power supplies are used and one power supply fails, temporarily disable Drive Write Cache until a replacement power supply has been installed. If redundant power supplies are used, add an additional layer of power protection by connecting each power supply in the server to a separate Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS). If multiple UPSs are used, add an additional layer of power protection by connecting each UPS to a different AC circuit.
How to Enable Write Cache on SATA HDDs for HP ProLiant ML and DL Servers
|
| |
| Service and warranty |
| Q1. |
What is the warranty period for a SATA drive? |
| A1. |
SATA hard drives have a one year warranty regardless of the warranty period for the system in which they are installed. However, the drive warranty is automatically uplifted when used in a server or MSA for which a care pack is purchased. Please see the below information for additional services.
|
| |
| Industry Terms |
| Q1. |
What is SATA II? |
| A1. |
The term SATA II has grown in popularity as the name for the SATA 3Gb/s data transfer rate, causing great confusion with customers because, quite simply, it's a misnomer. SATA II is not the brand name for SATA's 3Gb/s data transfer rate, but the name of the organization formed to author the SATA specifications. The group has since changed names, to the Serial ATA International Organization, or SATA-IO. |
| |
| Performance |
| Q1. |
What is the speed of the SATA drives? |
| A1. |
The SFF drives run at 5,400 RPM and the 3.5" run at 7,200 RPM. The 120GB 2.5" drives have a SATA 1.5 Gb/s interface all of the other capacities have a SATA 3Gb/s interface. |
| |
| Q2. |
What is Native Command Queuing (NCQ)? |
| A2. |
NCQ is a technology designed to increase performance of SATA hard disk drives by allowing the individual hard disk to internally optimize the order in which received read and write commands are executed. This can reduce the amount of unnecessary going back-and-forth on the drive's heads, resulting in increased performance for workloads where multiple simultaneous read/write requests are outstanding, most often occurring in server or storage-type applications. Without NCQ the drive has to process and complete one command at a time. For NCQ to be enabled, it must be supported and turned on in the controller and in the hard drive itself.
|
| |
| Q3. |
What SATA hard drives support NCQ? |
| A3. |
All Entry and Midline hot plug and non-hot plug drives support NCQ.
|
| |
| Q4. |
What Smart Array Controllers support NCQ? |
| A4. |
NCQ is supported on the Smart Array P400, P400i, P410, P411, P212, E500, and P800 controllers.
|
| |
Printable version
