HPE ProLiant BL460c Gen8 Drives
Genuine HPE hot-plug drives for the HPE ProLiant BL460c Gen8, new and refurbished, tested before shipping. A blade has room for two small form factor bays, and they take the SmartDrive (SC) carrier only — HPE drives from previous generation servers will not seat in this chassis.
BL460c Gen8 Drive Specifications
- Bays: two hot-plug small form factor (2.5-inch) bays, each taking a SAS, SATA or solid state drive
- Carrier: the SmartDrive (SC) hot-plug carrier introduced with Gen8; drives from previous generation servers are not compatible with these bays
- Maximum internal capacity: 4.0TB on two 2TB SAS or SATA drives, or 3.2TB on two 1.6TB SAS or SATA solid state drives
- Interface: 6Gb/s SAS and SATA on the integrated Smart Array P220i; 12G SAS drives are supported but run at 6G speeds in this blade
- Formats stocked: enterprise SAS at 10K and 15K rpm, midline SAS and SATA at 7.2K rpm, 512e advanced format parts, and SAS solid state drives in mainstream and performance endurance classes
- RAID: the P220i with its 512MB flash backed write cache supports RAID 0 and RAID 1 only, across up to 64 logical drives
Two bays, one carrier, two RAID levels. The BL460c Gen8 takes exactly two SFF SmartDrive (SC) drives, and HPE drives from previous generation servers will not seat in them. The integrated Smart Array P220i supports RAID 0 and RAID 1 only, so the choice is a mirror or two independent volumes — 4.0TB maximum on two 2TB drives.
What fits in the two BL460c Gen8 drive bays?
| Drive family | Maximum with two bays filled | Suits |
|---|---|---|
| SAS enterprise, 10K and 15K rpm | 4.0TB on 2 × 2.0TB | Transactional work and anything the blade boots from daily |
| SAS and SATA midline, 7.2K rpm | 4.0TB on 2 × 2.0TB | Bulk capacity where the spindle count no longer matters |
| SAS solid state | 3.2TB on 2 × 1.6TB | Latency-sensitive local storage, or a fast pair under a hypervisor |
Two bays makes this a short decision: a RAID 1 mirror, which leaves one drive's worth of usable space, or two independent volumes with no redundancy. There is no middle ground, because the P220i supports RAID 0 and RAID 1 and nothing else. Blades needing more than 4.0TB usually get it from the enclosure — a D2200sb storage blade, or a SAN through a Fibre Channel mezzanine card.
Choosing the Right BL460c Gen8 Drive
- The carrier decides whether a drive will seat. SmartDrive (SC) parts fit; the older SFF carriers from G6 and G7 servers do not, and no adapter bridges them.
- Do not pay for 12G. HPE documents that 12G SAS drives operate at 6G speeds in a BL460c Gen8, so the faster interface buys nothing here.
- Mixing SAS drives with SAS SSDs costs you RAID 1. HPE supports the combination but limits it to two separate RAID 0 volumes, and mixing other drive types is not supported at all.
- Buy the pair, not the drive. In a two-bay mirror, matched capacity and spindle speed is the difference between a clean rebuild and a degraded array — and that includes keeping both drives on one sector format rather than straddling 512n and 512e.
Complete Your BL460c Gen8 Build
The bays are fed by the integrated Smart Array P220i, so there is no controller to choose — check BL460c Gen8 memory, networking adapters and processors instead, or the full BL460c Gen8 parts listing, which also carries the D2200sb storage blade and the Fibre Channel mezzanine. Adjacent generations: BL460c G7 drives and BL460c Gen9 drives. Background reading: SAS vs SATA hard drives, what 512e drives are and the HPE parts by server model index.
BL460c Gen8 Drives FAQ
How many drives does a BL460c Gen8 hold?
Two. The blade has two hot-plug small form factor bays, each taking a SAS, SATA or solid state drive.
What is the maximum storage capacity of a BL460c Gen8?
4.0TB internally, on two 2TB SAS or SATA drives. Solid state configurations reach 3.2TB on two 1.6TB SSDs.
Will drives from a BL460c G7 work in a Gen8 blade?
No. The BL460c Gen8 uses the SmartDrive (SC) hot-plug carrier, and HPE states that drives from previous generation servers are not compatible with its drive bays.
Does the BL460c Gen8 support RAID 5?
No. The integrated Smart Array P220i supports RAID 0 and RAID 1 only, which is all two drive bays can use anyway.
Can I mix a hard drive and an SSD in a BL460c Gen8?
Standard SAS drives can be mixed with SAS SSDs, but doing so limits the blade to two separate RAID 0 volumes rather than a mirror. Mixing other drive types is not supported.
Do 12G SAS drives run faster in this blade?
No. HPE documents that 12G SAS drives operate at 6G speeds in a ProLiant BL460c Gen8, so a 12G part behaves like a 6G one here.
✅ Looking for a specific BL460c Gen8 drive? Browse our full selection below.
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