HPE ProLiant ML310e Gen8 Drives
Genuine HPE hard drives and solid state drives for the HPE ProLiant ML310e Gen8, new and refurbished, tested before shipping. Two things decide what will work: the cage on the front of the tower — four 3.5-inch LFF bays or eight 2.5-inch SFF bays — and the controller behind it, because the embedded B120i handles SATA only and SAS drives need a standup card.
ML310e Gen8 Drive Specifications
- Bay configurations: four large form factor (3.5-inch) bays, built in non-hot-plug or hot-plug form, or eight small form factor (2.5-inch) hot-plug bays
- Interface: SAS or SATA drives are documented for the platform, but only SATA runs on the embedded Dynamic Smart Array B120i
- Hot-plug maximums: 16TB on four 4TB LFF SAS or SATA drives, 9.6TB on eight 1.2TB SFF SAS drives, or 8TB on eight 1TB SFF SATA drives
- Non-hot-plug maximums: 12TB on four 3TB LFF SATA drives, or 2.4TB on four 600GB LFF SAS drives
- Solid state: SATA, with a documented ceiling of 6.4TB across eight 800GB SFF SSDs
- Carriers and cages: hot-plug drives arrive in Gen8 SmartDrive (SC) carriers, and HPE lists a 4U LFF hot-plug backplane kit and a 4U 8 SFF hot-plug cage kit for converting between front ends
Hot-plug and non-hot-plug drives are not interchangeable on this server. HPE built the four-bay LFF front end in both forms, and a non-hot-plug drive arrives without the SmartDrive carrier that a hot-plug backplane expects. Check the front of the chassis before ordering, and remember the embedded controller handles SATA only.
Which drives fit your ML310e Gen8?
| Front end | Bays | Drive size | Hot-plug | Documented maximum |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| LFF, non-hot-plug | 4 | 3.5-inch | No | 12TB on 3TB SATA |
| LFF, hot-plug | 4 | 3.5-inch | Yes | 16TB on 4TB SAS or SATA |
| SFF, hot-plug | 8 | 2.5-inch | Yes | 9.6TB on 1.2TB SAS |
Those maxima are the platform's, not the shelf's: the largest LFF drives listed on this page are 3TB, which puts a full set of four bays at 12TB rather than 16TB. The distinction that costs people a return is hot-plug against non-hot-plug — a non-hot-plug LFF drive has no SmartDrive carrier, and a hot-plug backplane expects one, so the two families are not swappable however identical the capacity and spindle speed look.
Choosing the Right ML310e Gen8 Drive
- Read the front of the chassis before anything else. Four large bays or eight small ones, and hot-plug or not, settles which drive family you are buying from.
- SATA runs on what the server already has; SAS does not. The embedded B120i is SATA only, so a SAS drive assumes a standup Smart Array card or an H-series host bus adapter is fitted.
- Eight SFF bays outrun the embedded controller anyway. HPE gives the B120i six internal SATA connectors and up to eight logical volumes across six physical drives, and specifies a standup controller for the eight-bay SFF configuration.
- 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.
- Midline SATA is the capacity route on a tower this size. Enterprise SAS carries the higher spindle speeds and duty cycle, but with four or eight bays the cost per terabyte usually decides.
Complete Your ML310e Gen8 Build
The controller decides which drives will even be seen — read ML310e Gen8 storage controllers before committing to an array. Also available: ML310e Gen8 memory, networking adapters, power supplies and rack options, or the full ML310e Gen8 parts listing and HPE parts by server model. Background reading: SAS vs SATA hard drives and why HPE moved away from Smart Carriers.
ML310e Gen8 Drives FAQ
How many hard drives fit in an ML310e Gen8?
Four 3.5-inch LFF drives or eight 2.5-inch SFF drives, depending on the cage the server was built with. HPE lists conversion kits in both directions, but the two front ends are not interchangeable as they stand.
Does the ML310e Gen8 take SAS drives?
The platform supports them, but not through the embedded controller. The Dynamic Smart Array B120i is SATA only, so SAS drives require a standup Smart Array card or an H-series host bus adapter.
What is the maximum storage capacity of an ML310e Gen8?
16TB on four 4TB hot-plug LFF drives, or 9.6TB on eight 1.2TB SFF SAS drives. Non-hot-plug LFF configurations are documented to 12TB on 3TB SATA drives.
Can I put a hot-plug drive in a non-hot-plug ML310e Gen8?
No. Non-hot-plug drives ship without a SmartDrive carrier and the hot-plug backplane expects one. Moving a non-hot-plug LFF server to hot-plug means fitting the 4U LFF hot-plug backplane kit.
Can I convert an LFF ML310e Gen8 to eight SFF bays?
HPE lists a 4U 8 SFF hot-plug hard drive cage kit, which is the cage plus backplane, for converting any LFF configuration to SFF. That configuration also calls for a standup storage controller.
Do SSDs work in an ML310e Gen8?
Yes, as SATA solid state drives in either form factor. HPE documents a ceiling of 6.4TB across eight 800GB SFF SATA SSDs.
✅ Looking for a specific ML310e Gen8 drive? Browse our full selection below.
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