Dell PowerVault MD1280 vs HPE MSA 2040
Side-by-side specifications from the vendors' own documents. The Dell PowerVault MD1280 is an ultra-dense 5U direct-attached storage (DAS) expansion enclosure holding 84 3.5-inch SAS drives across two independent pull-out drawers. The HPE MSA 2040 is an enterprise 2U entry-to-midrange SAN storage system designed for growing virtualization, SQL Server, and Microsoft Exchange deployments.
| Dell PowerVault MD1280 | HPE MSA 2040 | |
|---|---|---|
| Brand | Dell | HPE |
| Status | end-of-support | end-of-sale |
| Released | Feb 2014 | May 2013 |
| Form factor | storage shelf | 2U rack enterprise SAN |
| Controller type | Dual hot-pluggable 6Gb SAS Environmental Service Modules (ESMs) | — |
| Drive bays | 84x 3.5-inch/2.5-inch SAS/NL-SAS drive bays across two sliding drawers in 5U | — |
| Raw capacity | Up to 672TB raw capacity per 5U enclosure (with 8TB drives) | — |
| Interconnect | Dual 6Gb/s mini-SAS (SFF-8088) ports per ESM for host or controller attachment | — |
| Power supply | Dual redundant hot-plug 2800W high-output power supplies | — |
| Form factor | — | 2U 12-drive LFF or 24-drive SFF chassis |
| Controllers | — | Dual active-active controllers (8GB total cache with supercap protection) |
| Host ports | — | 4 converged SFP+ ports per controller (16Gb FC or 10GbE iSCSI) |
| Max drives | — | Up to 199 SFF or 96 LFF drives with seven expansion shelves |
| Raid support | — | RAID 0, 1, 3, 5, 6, 10, 50 |
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