Non-Dell Drives for R710

[Clix00]

I am not sure if this is the correct category, but since it is specifically storage based, I will ask here...

I current have a Dell R710 (8x 2.5”) that I am upgrading the drives for my homelab, but I am having some issues on deciding on drives. Currently it has the PERC 6i that I intend on upgrading to a H700. I would like to find drives that the RAID controller doesn’t fuss over (currently been using drives pull from OEM dell laptops, but I usually end up limited on size). My budget is pretty limited right now, so I was looking into 4x Western Digital WD10S21X 1TB SATA or 4x Western Digital WD10JFCX 1TB SATA. Ultimately, my goal is to fill all 8 drive slots with the same drives, then use a PCIe for 2x SSDs (RAID-1) for the OS.

This specific server is used mostly for storage, hyper-v, and home automation controlling. IO isn’t exactly critical as I am not typically streaming from it.

I know I have seen some users report using non-certified drives fine, however, I am unable to locate models of such drives. Will the above mentioned drives work without showing partially degraded all the time, or am I forever stuck dealing with fuss for not using Dell specific drives?

 

[Slow Pri]

I'm rocking 8x 4TB WD Reds in my R710. I don't have issues, I guess you could run dell specific drives but that would be annoying.

 

[artk2219]

I am not sure if this is the correct category, but since it is specifically storage based, I will ask here...

I current have a Dell R710 (8x 2.5”) that I am upgrading the drives for my homelab, but I am having some issues on deciding on drives. Currently it has the PERC 6i that I intend on upgrading to a H700. I would like to find drives that the RAID controller doesn’t fuss over (currently been using drives pull from OEM dell laptops, but I usually end up limited on size). My budget is pretty limited right now, so I was looking into 4x Western Digital WD10S21X 1TB SATA or 4x Western Digital WD10JFCX 1TB SATA. Ultimately, my goal is to fill all 8 drive slots with the same drives, then use a PCIe for 2x SSDs (RAID-1) for the OS.

This specific server is used mostly for storage, hyper-v, and home automation controlling. IO isn’t exactly critical as I am not typically streaming from it.

I know I have seen some users report using non-certified drives fine, however, I am unable to locate models of such drives. Will the above mentioned drives work without showing partially degraded all the time, or am I forever stuck dealing with fuss for not using Dell specific drives?

Using non dell drives shouldn't be a problem, I have used WD's, seagates, toshiba's, and Hitachi's just fine with PERC 5's 6's and H700's, they can get a little fussy with SSD's depending on the controller, but I've never had them just not work. It may not like the disparity between the drives however depending on the cache configuration, or you could legitimately just have a bad drive. If you're currently using 2tb and under drives, why are you changing the raid controller? Thats the only major difference between the PERC 5/6 and H700 series.

 

[Clix00]

Using non dell drives shouldn't be a problem, I have used WD's, seagates, toshiba's, and Hitachi's just fine with PERC 5's 6's and H700's, they can get a little fussy with SSD's depending on the controller, but I've never had them just not work. It may not like the disparity between the drives however depending on the cache configuration, or you could legitimately just have a bad drive. If you're currently using 2tb and under drives, why are you changing the raid controller? Thats the only major difference between the PERC 5/6 and H700 series.

I haven't been able to find a bad drive from independent disk tests, but the controller just doesn't seem to like HGST drives. As I mentioned, the other drives were directly from Dell laptops--not sure if there is any link, but they are WD and Toshiba drives. The main reason I was looking into the H700 was for the additional potential throughput (SSDs mainly).

The biggest thing I would like to find is drives that won't constantly show the amber fault light.

 

[failboat]

Using non dell drives shouldn't be a problem, I have used WD's, seagates, toshiba's, and Hitachi's just fine with PERC 5's 6's and H700's, they can get a little fussy with SSD's depending on the controller, but I've never had them just not work. It may not like the disparity between the drives however depending on the cache configuration, or you could legitimately just have a bad drive. If you're currently using 2tb and under drives, why are you changing the raid controller? Thats the only major difference between the PERC 5/6 and H700 series.

I haven't been able to find a bad drive from independent disk tests, but the controller just doesn't seem to like HGST drives. As I mentioned, the other drives were directly from Dell laptops--not sure if there is any link, but they are WD and Toshiba drives. The main reason I was looking into the H700 was for the additional potential throughput (SSDs mainly).

The biggest thing I would like to find is drives that won't constantly show the amber fault light.

I have a 3.5'' r710 and mine has two sata ports. They may only be Sata II, I can't remember, but I was running one out of the cdrom bay using a cheap adapter to 2.5'' off amazon.

I run 3 300GB HGST 15k drives in raid 5 on the perc 6i and it works fine. I found them on ebay with dell hotswap cases on them for $20ea.