HPE ProLiant DL80 Gen9 Drives
Genuine HPE drives for the HPE ProLiant DL80 Gen9, new and refurbished, tested before shipping. This is the storage-leaning member of the Gen9 entry line, and HPE built it with four different front ends — 4LFF and 8LFF non-hot-plug, and 8LFF and 12LFF hot-plug — so the first question is not which drive, but which cage is on the front of your chassis.
DL80 Gen9 Drive Specifications
- Bays: twelve LFF drive bays in the largest configuration, or eight, with no optical bay in either; an optical drive attaches over USB
- Hot-plug cages: 8LFF and 12LFF, taking 3.5-inch SAS, SATA or solid state drives in HPE SmartDrive (SC) carriers
- Non-hot-plug cages: 4LFF and 8LFF, SATA only, with the cabling to the embedded B140i included in the chassis
- Documented ceilings: 96.0TB on twelve 8TB hot-plug LFF SAS or SATA drives, 46.08TB on twelve 3.84TB LFF SATA solid state drives, and 32TB on eight 4TB non-hot-plug SATA drives
- Bay upgrade: the DL80 Gen9 8LFF Non-hot Plug Enablement Kit is the one documented way to grow a cage, taking a 4LFF non-hot-plug model to eight bays
- Carriers: Gen9 LFF hot-plug carriers carry status, activity and "Do Not Remove" indicators, and 15K enterprise drives arrive in 3.5-inch SC Converter carriers
The cage on the front of the chassis is the whole decision. Non-hot-plug cages take SATA only and have to be powered down for a swap; hot-plug cages take SAS, SATA or solid state. Only the 12LFF cage reaches 96.0TB, and the one bay upgrade HPE lists takes a 4LFF non-hot-plug machine to eight.
Which Drive Cage Is on the Front of Your DL80 Gen9?
| Front end | Bays | Drives it takes | Hot-plug |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4LFF non-hot plug | 4 | SATA only | No — upgradeable to eight bays |
| 8LFF non-hot plug | 8 | SATA only | No |
| 8LFF hot plug | 8 | SAS, SATA or solid state | Yes |
| 12LFF hot plug | 12 | SAS, SATA or solid state | Yes |
Only the 12LFF cage reaches the documented 96.0TB, and only a hot-plug cage takes SAS or solid state at all. Those ceilings are what the platform supports rather than what sits on this page: the largest 3.5-inch drives listed here are 6TB, so a full twelve-bay build from this listing lands well short of them. Cages are set at build time and the enablement kit only takes a 4LFF non-hot-plug machine to eight, so capacity per drive is the lever you have.
Choosing the Right DL80 Gen9 Drive
- Confirm hot-plug or non-hot-plug before anything else. The non-hot-plug cages are SATA only, and replacing a drive costs downtime rather than a walk to the rack.
- Check the controller before buying SAS. The embedded B140i is SATA only; SAS needs an H240 Smart HBA or a Smart Array card in a slot.
- Match the whole storage path. HPE notes that the drive, the controller, the firmware and the server backplane should operate at the same data transfer rate, or the system negotiates down to the slowest of them.
- Plan the array around the bay count you have. A parity choice that costs one drive in twelve is a very different proposition from the same choice in a four-bay chassis.
- Keep the empty bays filled. HPE populates factory-built servers with hard drive blanks, and the LFF blank kit replaces one that has gone missing.
Complete Your DL80 Gen9 Build
The controller decides how many bays one card can address — read DL80 Gen9 storage controllers before committing to an array. Also available: DL80 Gen9 memory, processors, networking adapters and power supplies, or the full DL80 Gen9 parts listing. Background reading: SAS vs SATA hard drives and choosing the right spindle speed. Other models are listed under HPE parts by server model.
DL80 Gen9 Drives FAQ
How many drives does a DL80 Gen9 hold?
Up to twelve. HPE built four front ends for this 2U chassis: 4LFF and 8LFF non-hot-plug, and 8LFF and 12LFF hot-plug. The cage fitted at the factory is what you have.
Does the DL80 Gen9 take 2.5-inch drives?
Not directly. Every bay in this chassis is a 3.5-inch large form factor bay. A 2.5-inch drive reaches it only in a 3.5-inch SC Converter carrier, as the 15K enterprise drives here are.
What is the maximum storage capacity of a DL80 Gen9?
96.0TB, on twelve 8TB hot-plug LFF SAS or SATA drives with the 12LFF cage. LFF SATA solid state drives are documented to 46.08TB, and the non-hot-plug chassis to 32TB on eight 4TB drives.
Can I add more drive bays to a DL80 Gen9?
Only in one documented case. The DL80 Gen9 8LFF Non-hot Plug Enablement Kit takes a 4LFF non-hot-plug model up to eight bays. No kit converts a non-hot-plug chassis to hot-plug, or an 8LFF cage to twelve bays.
Can I use SAS drives with the embedded controller?
No. The embedded Dynamic Smart Array B140i supports SATA only, up to ten drives at 6Gb/s. SAS needs an H240 Smart Host Bus Adapter or a Smart Array P440, P840 or P441.
What is the difference between the hot-plug and non-hot-plug DL80 Gen9?
The drive cage. A hot-plug chassis takes SAS, SATA or solid state in SmartDrive carriers and allows a swap with the server running; a non-hot-plug chassis takes SATA only and must be powered down.
✅ Looking for a specific DL80 Gen9 drive? Browse our full selection below.
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