Cart Sign In
Dell Hardware for Local Storage Solutions

Dell Hardware for Local Storage Solutions

Tyler Young
By Tyler Young
Solutions Architect

October 31, 2023

In our local storage architecture overview, we discussed IT environments that are best suited for a local storage solution. Fast performance, cost‑effectiveness, reduced latency, and ease of setup make local on‑site storage a popular solution among Dell's storage portfolio options.

Dell PowerVault MD Series

Dell PowerVault

The Dell PowerVault MD line of DAS (direct‑attached storage) is designed to meet your storage density and performance requirements. PowerVault MD is a simple and cost‑effective 12Gb SAS connectivity DAS solution to pair with the latest PowerEdge servers.

PowerVault MD1400: Maximum density DAS platform with SAS and NL-SAS 7.2k HDD perfect for data archival, video surveillance, or other general‑purpose workloads.

PowerVault MD1420: High‑performance DAS platform with 2.5‑inch SAS, NL-SAS, or SSD drives for workloads that need more IOPS and lower latency.

PowerVault MD2412/MD2424/MD2460: For users looking to get additional bandwidth out of a DAS, Dell's suite of next‑generation JBODs supports 24Gb speeds on both the front and back end, providing double the bandwidth compared with MD14xx arrays. The last two digits in Dell's nomenclature for these 3 arrays indicate the number of drive bays capable of being populated (i.e., MD2412 supports 12 drives per array).

PowerVault ME484: The PowerVault ME484 expansion enclosure can not only be added to a PowerVault ME SAN, but it can also be used as a standalone JBOD when paired with a compatible PowerEdge server to provide up to 84 2.5‑inch or 3.5‑inch hard drives.

Dell PowerEdge Servers

Dell PowerEdge

The Dell PowerEdge platform offers a vast range of flexibility and choice of configurations to match any workload need. Potential configurations range from entry‑level platforms such as the PowerEdge R2x0 series with SAS or SATA HDD/SSD all the way to the top‑of‑the‑line PowerEdge R7x0 series paired with PCIe NVMe for ultimate storage performance.

PowerEdge R740xd2: Density‑optimized 2U server that can hold up to 26 3.5‑inch HDDs. Designed for data‑intensive workloads, video surveillance, and media streaming.

PowerEdge R750: The R750 can be configured in a chassis to support only 3.5‑inch HDDs, a mix of 3.5‑inch HDDs and 2.5‑inch SAS/SATA SSDs, a mix of SAS/SATA + NVMe, or even up to 24 PCIe NVMe drives (optional NVMe hardware RAID) for maximum performance.

PowerEdge XE7100: The XE7100 delivers outstanding scalability and density with either one or two dual‑socket nodes, and can support up to 100 SATA/SAS hard drives, 20 of which can be MU or RI SSDs.


There is a wide range of local storage configuration possibilities in Dell Technologies' storage portfolio, to satisfy any requirement.