Datasheet

IBM Flex System Storage Expansion Node 4
Supported disk drives
The Storage Expansion Node is a PCIe 3.0 and a SAS 2.1 complaint enclosure supporting up to twelve
2.5-inch drives. The drives can be HDD or SSD, and both SAS or SATA. Drive modes supported are
JBOD or RAID-0, 1, 5, 6, 10, 50, and 60.
The drives are accessed by opening the handle on the front of the Storage Expansion Node and sliding
out the drive tray. Opening the drive tray can be done while it is operational. Figure 3 shows the Storage
Expansion Node connected to an x240 compute node and with the drive tray extended part way out. With
the drive tray extended, all twelve hot-swap drives can be accessed on the left side of the tray.
Figure 3. Storage Expansion Node with drive tray part way extended
The following table lists the hard disk drives (HDDs) and solid state drives (SSDs) supported within the
Storage Expansion Node. Both SSDs and HDDs can be installed inside the unit at the same time.
Preferred practice when creating logical drives is to use similar disk types. For example, for a RAID 1 pair,
choose identical drive types, SSD or HDD.
Table 3. Supported drives
Part number Feature code Description Maximum
supported
NL SATA HDDs
81Y9722 A1NX IBM 250GB 7.2K 6Gbps NL SATA 2.5" SFF HS HDD 12
81Y9726 A1NZ IBM 500GB 7.2K 6Gbps NL SATA 2.5" SFF HS HDD 12
81Y9730 A1AV IBM 1TB 7.2K 6Gbps NL SATA 2.5" SFF HS HDD 12
10K SAS HDDs
81Y9650 A282 IBM 900GB 10K 6Gbps SAS 2.5" SFF HS HDD 12
90Y8872 A2XD IBM 600GB 10K 6Gbps SAS 2.5" SFF G2HS HDD 12
90Y8877 A2XC IBM 300GB 10K 6Gbps SAS 2.5" SFF G2HS HDD 12
Solid state drives
90Y8643 A2U3 IBM 256GB SATA 2.5" MLC HS Enterprise Value SSD 12