News

posted on 16 June 2008 17:12

Dell has announced its MD1120, an expansion array of hot-swap 2.5-inch SAS hard drives for use as direct-attached storage by PowerEdge servers. It is the first major storage shipper to announce a 2.5-inch drive offering.

The 2U enclosure can hold up to 24 drives using the SAS I 3Gbit/s interface. Two drive types are available: 10,000rpm 146GB; and 15,000rpm 73GB. Dell says it will incorporate Seagate's 300GB SAS 2.5-inch drive  when it is available. Dell has a 500GB 2.5-inch drive expected by the end of the year.

A Dell server can have a maximum of 144 drives connected to its dual-port PERC 6/E RAID controller - 21TB of capacity.

The MD1120 uses 70 percent less space than the same capacity using 3.5-inch drives and uses half the power. It should also deliver more IOs per second (IOPS) as there are more spindles handling the data.

Dell isn't saying when its EqualLogic PS iSCSI storage arrays will offer a 2.5-inch hard drive option but that day cannot be far away.

Coincidentally Xyratex announced a 24-drive, 2U, 2.5-inch drive enclosure in April, the SP1224s.

Taiwan-based Infortrend introduced its EonStor B12S and B12F SAS and Fibre Channel 2.5-inch arrays in October last year.

Atrato has recently introduced its 2.5-inch-based box, the Velocity1000.

Seagate thinks that 2.5-inch drive shipments will overtake 3.5-inch drive shipments by 2010.

Dell MD1120 prices start from a special offer of $3,149.

^{[Paul Roberts, news editor.]}