We think about replacing our Dell PowerEdge T100 (2009) with a Dell PowerEdge T330 for our small business. Up to 15 clients are using the MSSql Server, some fileshares and printers. The database size is about 7G with little writes.
We think about using SSDs and HDDs (Raid 1 + Raid 1) with a PERC H330 RAID controller.
Buying SSDs at Dell is very expensive and that's why we want to buy them separately.
Is it possible to use some Samsung Evo 850 Pro with this RAID controller?
Are they stable in a RAID 1 setup or is the RAID crashing (without hardware failure)?
I read about leaving unpartitioned space to over-provisioning them but is there anything else to think about?
Our server will not have heavy loads, so I think this consumer SSDs fit our requirements, but they need to be reliable for some years 🙂 .
Is this a good way to save some money or will we regret it someday?
Best Answer
I use PowerEdge servers with a lot of variety of HDDs.
I prefer using 2 or 3 Dell original system drives a server comes with to host the VM environment and then add large SATA HDDs like WD Golds 8TB+ or 2.5" high capacity ones to be used for guests, according to my needs and requirements.
There is no problem whatsoever in such a setup. There is no warning and no alarm. 3rd party HDDs worked excellently in all my setups in various RAID configurations.
Samsung Evo 850 Pros are reliable enough but were not build for server environments, so the only problem you can have is their faster ware-out.
High capacity server SSDs are extremely expensive so many prefer alternatives, but the original SAS ones do offer features such as advanced error correction, data integrity technology and high signal quality on the cable or backplane.
So, in the end, the choice is all about needs vs costs.