HPE ProLiant BL680c G7 Hard Drives
Genuine HPE hot-plug hard drives and solid state drives for the HPE ProLiant BL680c G7, new and refurbished, tested before shipping. This blade has four hot-plug SFF bays and one rule that decides the whole order: HPE states that SAS, SATA and SSD drives cannot be mixed within the server, so the four bays hold one family or none.
BL680c G7 Drive Specifications
- Bays: four hot-plug small form factor (2.5-inch) SAS, SATA or solid state bays; no drives are included with the blade
- Maximum on SAS: 4.8TB, as four 1.2TB hot-plug SAS drives
- Maximum on SATA: 4.0TB, as four 1TB hot-plug SATA drives
- Maximum on solid state: 3.2TB, as four 800GB SAS or SATA SSDs
- Interface: the integrated Smart Array P410i presents 6G SAS and 3G SATA, over two internal x4 wide port SAS connectors
- RAID minimums: two drives for RAID 0 and RAID 1, three for RAID 5, four for RAID 1+0 and RAID 6
SAS, SATA and SSD cannot be mixed within this blade. All four hot-plug SFF bays hold one family, so decide the family before the capacity. Four bays reach 4.8TB on 1.2TB SAS drives, 4.0TB on 1TB SATA, or 3.2TB on 800GB solid state — and RAID 1+0 or RAID 6 uses every one of them.
Which drive family should fill the four bays?
| Family | Four bays filled with | Maximum |
|---|---|---|
| Hot-plug SAS | 4 × 1.2TB | 4.8TB |
| Hot-plug SATA | 4 × 1.0TB | 4.0TB |
| Hot-plug SAS SSD | 4 × 800GB | 3.2TB |
| Hot-plug SATA SSD | 4 × 800GB | 3.2TB |
Four bays is the honest limit of this blade, and it is the trade you accept for four sockets and 64 memory slots in one enclosure slot. Most BL680c G7 deployments boot and log here and put the working set on the fabric, which is what the mezzanine cards are for. Because the families cannot be mixed, a pair of SAS drives alongside a pair of SSDs is not a configuration HPE supports — pick the family first, then the capacity.
Choosing the Right BL680c G7 Hard Drive
- Decide the family before the capacity. SAS, SATA and SSD cannot share the blade, so a mixed order means one of the drives is going back.
- Check the RAID minimum against four bays. RAID 5 takes three of the four, and RAID 1+0 and RAID 6 take all four, which leaves nothing spare for a hot spare.
- SATA runs at 3G here. The P410i presents 6G SAS and 3G SATA, so a SATA drive sits on the slower path whatever it is rated for; the SATA solid state drives listed below are on that same 3G path.
- Match the whole storage path. HPE notes that the drive, the controller, the firmware and the backplane should run at the same transfer rate, or the system negotiates down to the slowest of them.
- Drives arrive in hot-plug SFF carriers. The carrier is part of the drive assembly rather than a separate accessory, and it is what lets you swap a failed drive with the blade in the enclosure.
Complete Your BL680c G7 Build
The controller and its cache decide which RAID levels the four bays can run — see BL680c G7 storage controllers before committing to an array. Also available: BL680c G7 memory and processors, or the full BL680c G7 parts listing, which carries the Fibre Channel mezzanine cards for storage outside the blade. Neighbouring blades: BL620c G7 hard drives and BL660c Gen8 hard drives. Background reading: SAS vs SATA hard drives and comparing solid state and hard disk drives, with every model indexed under HPE parts by server model.
BL680c G7 Hard Drives FAQ
How many drives fit in a BL680c G7?
Four hot-plug SFF bays. No drives are included with the blade itself.
Can I mix SAS and SATA drives in a BL680c G7?
No. HPE states that SAS, SATA and SSD drives cannot be mixed within the server, so all four bays have to hold the same family.
What is the maximum internal storage of a BL680c G7?
4.8TB on four 1.2TB SAS drives, 4.0TB on four 1TB SATA drives, or 3.2TB on four 800GB solid state drives.
How many drives does RAID 5 need on this blade?
Three. RAID 0 and RAID 1 need two drives, and RAID 1+0 and RAID 6 need four - which on a four-bay blade is the entire front.
Do SATA drives run at 6G in a BL680c G7?
No. The integrated Smart Array P410i presents 6G SAS and 3G SATA, so a SATA drive runs on the 3G path whatever the drive itself is rated for.
Will a faster drive speed up an existing array?
Not on its own. HPE notes that the drive, controller, firmware and backplane negotiate to a common transfer rate, so the slowest element in the path sets the pace.
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