James Cart
Level 1 (0 points)

Q: Does the Xserve 2009 support 6TB HDDs?

Before I spend the money, does anyone know if the Xserve 2009 will support 6TB HDDs in the 3 swappable drive bays? Also, can you reference any support documentation or screenshots?

Xserve, OS X Yosemite (10.10.2), 2009

Posted on Mar 8, 2015 12:01 AM

Close
James Cart

Q: Does the Xserve 2009 support 6TB HDDs?

  • All replies
  • Helpful answers

  • by Antonio Rocco,Helpful

    Antonio Rocco Antonio Rocco Mar 8, 2015 8:58 AM in response to James Cart
    Level 6 (10,616 points)
    Desktops
    Mar 8, 2015 8:58 AM in response to James Cart

    This is what's officially supported:

     

    https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT1219

     

    2TBs appears to be the limit although there are some who've posted here reporting mixed results for 3TB drives. Not seen anything yet regarding larger capacity drives. In fact yours may be the first question regarding 6TB drives? A very loose 'rule of thumb' would be to try it first with one drive and if it 'takes' you may get more joy with more?

  • by beatle20359,Helpful

    beatle20359 beatle20359 Mar 9, 2015 7:20 AM in response to James Cart
    Level 2 (314 points)
    Mar 9, 2015 7:20 AM in response to James Cart

    Hi James,

     

    It doesn't, the limitation is on the SATA controller.. SAS drives might work at 4TB or above but as they're quite costly it's a big investment.. I might be able to test a SAS drive in a few weeks so will let you know if these work.

     

    As it stands other drives are limited to 2.2tb as a maximum size. It's also very hit and miss.. Some 1TB WD Blacks work ok.

     

    Hope that helps

    Beatle

  • by James Cart,

    James Cart James Cart Mar 9, 2015 7:26 AM in response to beatle20359
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 9, 2015 7:26 AM in response to beatle20359

    I doubt I'll go that large on a SAS drive, but if you happen to get that info, I'd love to know if you have any success. Looks like I'll have to build a SAN of some kind to get the capacity I want.

  • by beatle20359,

    beatle20359 beatle20359 Mar 9, 2015 7:31 AM in response to James Cart
    Level 2 (314 points)
    Mar 9, 2015 7:31 AM in response to James Cart

    You've got a few reasonably cheap options..

     

    1) eBay - look for Promise Vtraks these will again top out at 2TB data or 4TB SAS (2TB on the Apple firmware version)

    2) An alternative would be to look at something like the Atto R680, Rocket RAID 2722 and go for an internal raid controller with a SAS chassis.. Both of these would do 8 disks and work with 6TB drives.