HPE ProLiant DL180 Gen9 Drives
Genuine HPE drives for the HPE ProLiant DL180 Gen9, new and refurbished, tested before shipping. This is the storage-dense member of its generation, and the front end fitted to your chassis decides everything: HPE built it as 4 LFF non-hot-plug, 8 or 12 hot-plug LFF, or 8 SFF growing to 16, and those front ends are set at the factory rather than swapped at will.
DL180 Gen9 Drive Specifications
- Bay configurations: 8 SFF with a media bay, 16 SFF with the second 8SFF cage fitted, 8 or 12 hot-plug LFF without a media bay, or 4 non-hot-plug LFF
- Maximum hot-plug capacity: 120TB on twelve 10TB LFF drives, or 32TB on sixteen 2TB SFF drives, in SAS or SATA
- Solid state ceilings: 61.4TB on sixteen 3.84TB SFF SSDs, or 46.08TB on twelve 3.84TB LFF SSDs
- Interface: 12G SAS and 6G SATA hot-plug drives in HPE SmartDrive (SC) carriers, with 15K LFF enterprise drives supplied in 3.5-inch SC Converter carriers
- Cage kits: the 8SFF hard drive cage and backplane kit, and the 12LFF hot plug enablement kit — the LFF enablement kit fits the 8LFF hot-plug chassis only and includes the controller cables for the upgrade
- Optical drive: available on 8SFF models only, and lost when the second 8SFF cage is fitted; it is not supported on any LFF chassis
The front end of the chassis is the whole decision. Four non-hot-plug LFF bays, eight or twelve hot-plug LFF, or eight SFF growing to sixteen with a second cage — and a 2.5-inch drive will not seat in a 3.5-inch bay. Twelve large drives reach 120TB; sixteen small ones reach 32TB.
Which Front End Does Your DL180 Gen9 Have?
| Front end | Bays | Carrier | Hot-plug |
|---|---|---|---|
| LFF non-hot-plug | 4 | 3.5-inch, SATA only | No |
| LFF hot-plug | 8 | 3.5-inch SmartDrive | Yes |
| LFF hot-plug, enablement kit fitted | 12 | 3.5-inch SmartDrive | Yes |
| SFF hot-plug | 8 | 2.5-inch SmartDrive | Yes |
| SFF hot-plug, second cage fitted | 16 | 2.5-inch SmartDrive | Yes |
The large form factor rows are where this platform earns its reputation: twelve 3.5-inch bays reach 120TB where sixteen 2.5-inch bays stop at 32TB, and that gap is the whole reason to own a DL180 Gen9 rather than a denser-compute 2U. Check the front of the chassis before ordering, because a 2.5-inch drive will not seat in a 3.5-inch bay — the 15K LFF enterprise drives listed here get around that with an SC Converter carrier, which is an SFF drive already mounted in a 3.5-inch tray.
Choosing the Right DL180 Gen9 Drive
- Confirm the form factor and whether the bays are hot-plug. The 4-bay non-hot-plug chassis takes SATA drives and means downtime for a replacement, which changes what a spare is worth.
- Check the controller before buying SAS. The embedded B140i is SATA only; SAS drives need 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 backplane should operate at the same data transfer rate, or the system negotiates down to the slowest of them.
- Midline for bulk, enterprise for transactions. 7.2K midline SAS and SATA carry the capacity per pound; 15K enterprise drives in SC Converter carriers cover random workloads without giving up the LFF chassis.
- Remember the optical bay. Adding the second 8SFF cage takes the media bay with it, so a server that boots from optical media needs another plan first.
Complete Your DL180 Gen9 Build
The controller decides which drives the backplane will even see — read DL180 Gen9 storage controllers before committing to an array. Also available: DL180 Gen9 memory, processors, networking adapters, power supplies and rack options, or the full DL180 Gen9 parts listing. Background reading: SAS vs SATA hard drives and what 512e drives are. Other models are listed under HPE parts by server model.
DL180 Gen9 Drives FAQ
How many drives does a DL180 Gen9 hold?
Between four and sixteen, depending on the chassis. HPE built it as 4 LFF non-hot-plug, 8 or 12 hot-plug LFF, or 8 SFF with a media bay that grows to 16 SFF with a second drive cage.
Does the DL180 Gen9 use 2.5-inch or 3.5-inch drives?
Either, but not both. The chassis was built with an SFF front end or an LFF front end, and a 2.5-inch drive will not seat in a 3.5-inch bay without an SC Converter carrier.
What is the maximum storage capacity of a DL180 Gen9?
120TB on twelve 10TB hot-plug LFF drives. The 16-bay SFF configuration reaches 32TB on 2TB drives, and SFF solid state drives reach 61.4TB on sixteen 3.84TB units.
Can I use SAS drives with the embedded controller?
No. The embedded Dynamic Smart Array B140i supports SATA only. SAS drives need the H240 Smart Host Bus Adapter or a Smart Array P440, P840 or P441 controller.
Can an 8LFF DL180 Gen9 be upgraded to 12 bays?
Yes, with the 12LFF hot plug enablement kit. HPE documents it for the 8LFF hot-plug chassis only, and it contains the controller cables for the upgrade.
Will the DL180 Gen9 take an optical drive?
Only on 8SFF models, which ship with a media bay for it. It is not supported on LFF chassis, and the bay is given up when the second 8SFF cage is fitted.
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