HPE ProLiant BL460c Gen9 Drives
Genuine HPE hot-plug drives for the HPE ProLiant BL460c Gen9, new and refurbished, tested before shipping. A half-height blade has two small form factor bays and no more, so the real question is not how many drives but which pair — and drives from G7 and earlier ProLiant generations will not seat in them.
BL460c Gen9 Drive Specifications
- Bays: two hot-plug small form factor (2.5-inch) bays, taking SAS or SATA hard drives, SAS or SATA solid state drives, or NVMe SSDs
- Carrier: the HPE hot-plug SFF SmartDrive carrier; HPE states drives from G7 servers and earlier are not compatible with the Gen9 drive bays
- Documented maximum internal storage: 4.0TB on two 2TB SAS or SATA hard drives, 7.68TB on two 3.84TB SAS or SATA SSDs, and 4.0TB on two 2TB NVMe SSDs
- Interface: 12Gb/s SAS and 6Gb/s SATA through the Smart Array P244br or Smart HBA H244br; the embedded B140i is 6Gb/s SATA only
- Endurance classes listed: Write Intensive, Mixed Use and Read Intensive in SAS and SATA, plus Value SAS parts and 512e hard drives
- Mixing: HPE supports standard SAS drives alongside SAS SSDs, but that limits the configuration to two separate RAID 0 volumes; mixing other drive types is not supported
Two bays is the whole story. A half-height blade takes exactly two hot-plug SFF SmartDrive drives, so upgrades are pairs, not additions. Drives from G7 servers and earlier will not seat in these bays at all, and mixing a standard SAS drive with a SAS SSD drops the blade to two separate RAID 0 volumes rather than one array.
What fits two drive bays?
| Drive type | Interface | Documented maximum | Suits |
|---|---|---|---|
| SAS hard drive | 12Gb/s SAS | 4.0TB (2 × 2TB) | Mirrored local storage where cost per terabyte matters |
| SATA hard drive | 6Gb/s SATA | 4.0TB (2 × 2TB) | Midline capacity on the embedded B140i |
| SAS or SATA SSD | 12Gb/s SAS or 6Gb/s SATA | 7.68TB (2 × 3.84TB) | Boot, hypervisor and local scratch on a busy blade |
| NVMe SSD | PCIe x4 lanes | 4.0TB (2 × 2TB) | Latency-sensitive local storage on a prepared chassis |
Two bays makes this a boot-and-local-storage machine; bulk capacity belongs on the SAN through a Fibre Channel mezzanine or on a storage blade in the enclosure. Treat the maxima above as what HPE qualified for that table rather than a per-drive ceiling: the same document lists single Read Intensive SAS SSDs at 7.68TB and 15.3TB for this blade, and those part numbers are on this page.
Choosing the Right BL460c Gen9 Drive
- Buy drives in pairs. With two bays the practical choices are a RAID 1 mirror or a RAID 0 stripe, and both want two identical drives.
- Do not mix drive types casually. SAS hard drives alongside SAS SSDs drops the blade to two separate RAID 0 volumes; other combinations are not supported at all.
- G7 drives do not carry over. HPE is explicit that drives from G7 servers and before are not compatible with these bays, whatever the connector looks like.
- NVMe is a separate path, not a drop-in. It needs the Gen9 NVMe factory setting, documented as incompatible with the P244br, P246br and H244br.
- Match endurance to the workload. Read Intensive parts carry the capacity and Write Intensive the endurance, with Mixed Use between; on a two-bay blade the write load is concentrated, which argues against the cheapest read-intensive part.
Complete Your BL460c Gen9 Build
The controller decides which RAID levels the pair can run — see BL460c Gen9 storage controllers before committing. Also available: BL460c Gen9 memory, processors and networking adapters, or the full BL460c Gen9 parts listing, which also carries the Fibre Channel host bus adapters. Adjacent generations: BL460c Gen8 drives and BL460c Gen10 drives. Background reading: SAS vs SATA hard drives, write intensive, mixed use and read intensive SSDs, HPE Value SAS explained and the HPE parts by server model index.
BL460c Gen9 Drives FAQ
How many drives does a BL460c Gen9 hold?
Two. The blade has two hot-plug small form factor bays and no cage option that adds more. A storage blade in the enclosure is the route to more local spindles.
What is the maximum storage in a BL460c Gen9?
HPE documents 4.0TB on two 2TB SAS or SATA hard drives, 7.68TB on two 3.84TB SAS or SATA SSDs, and 4.0TB on two 2TB NVMe SSDs. Individual SAS solid state drives listed for this blade go higher than that, up to 15.3TB per drive.
Will drives from a BL460c G7 fit a Gen9?
No. HPE states that drives from generation G7 servers and before are not compatible with the BL460c Gen9 drive bays. The Gen9 uses the SmartDrive carrier introduced with Gen8.
Can I mix a hard drive and an SSD in a BL460c Gen9?
Standard SAS drives can be mixed with SAS SSDs, but HPE notes it limits the configuration to two separate RAID 0 volumes. Mixing other drive types is not supported.
Does the BL460c Gen9 support NVMe drives?
Yes, but only on a chassis configured for it. NVMe needs the Gen9 NVMe factory setting, which is not compatible with the P244br, P246br or H244br, and HPE recommends a dual M.2 solid state drive kit for boot alongside it.
What does 512e mean on these drives?
The drive has 4K physical sectors but reports 512-byte logical sectors to the host. Several of the SAS and SATA hard drives listed here are 512e parts, and the Smart Array controllers handle them without special configuration.
✅ Looking for a specific BL460c Gen9 drive? Browse our full selection below.
Browse all models
Why Global One?
- Trusted by thousands. Over 36,000 customers in 100+ countries trust Global One Technology to deliver mission-critical HP Enterprise hardware - including Fortune 500 businesses, schools, hospitals, and federal, state, and local goverment agencies.
- HPE is our specialty! We only sell genuine HP Enterprise parts.
- EASY ordering process. Purchase online now with credit card or PayPal!
- FAST shipping. Global One Technology ships orders received by 4pm ET the same day and offers NEXT DAY delivery to US customers.
