Description
Product Overview for the Dell MD1200 Enclosure
The Dell MD1200 Drive Enclosure is a 2U rack-mountable expansion array designed to enhance storage capabilities for businesses and data centers. In this comprehensive guide, we will delve into the features, benefits, and specifications of the Dell MD1200 Drive Enclosure. Whether you’re a small business owner looking to expand your storage or an IT professional seeking reliable storage solutions, this guide will provide valuable insights to help you make an informed decision.
Understanding the Dell MD1200 Drive Enclosure
What is a Drive Enclosure?
A drive enclosure is a device that allows you to add additional hard drives to your existing storage infrastructure. It connects to a host server or storage controller, providing extra storage space and improved data management capabilities. The Dell MD1200 Drive Enclosure is a specialized 2U rack-mountable expansion array designed to fulfill this purpose.
The Dell MD1200 Drive Enclosure
The Dell MD1200 Drive Enclosure is a versatile and robust storage solution designed to meet the demands of modern businesses and data centers. It provides a reliable way to expand your storage capacity while maintaining data integrity and accessibility.
Key Features of the Dell MD1200 Drive Enclosure
- High Storage Capacity: The Dell MD1200 Drive Enclosure can accommodate up to twelve 3.5″ or 2.5″ SAS or Nearline SAS hard drives, offering impressive storage capacity. This high storage density is particularly advantageous for businesses that require a substantial amount of data storage.
- Scalability: Scalability is a crucial factor in modern IT environments, and the MD1200 offers it in spades. With support for multiple expansion enclosures, you can effortlessly scale your storage capacity as your data requirements grow. This scalability ensures that your storage infrastructure remains flexible and adaptable.
- Hot-Swappable Drives: The Dell MD1200 Drive Enclosure is equipped with hot-swappable drive bays, making it easy to replace or upgrade hard drives without shutting down the system. This feature minimizes downtime and ensures that your data remains accessible at all times.
- Redundancy and Data Protection: Data protection is paramount in any storage solution, and the MD1200 is designed with this in mind. It supports RAID configurations to provide data redundancy and fault tolerance. By using RAID, you can safeguard your data against drive failures, ensuring that your information remains intact and accessible.
- Dual Controllers: The MD1200 comes with dual controllers for added reliability. With redundant controllers in place, your storage system can continue to operate even if one controller experiences a malfunction. This redundancy minimizes the risk of data loss and downtime.
- Easy Management: The Dell MD1200 Drive Enclosure is designed for easy management and monitoring. It includes management software that allows you to oversee the storage array, check the health of the drives, and perform routine maintenance tasks.
Benefits of Using the Dell MD1200 Drive Enclosure
- Enhanced Storage Capacity: The primary benefit of the Dell MD1200 Drive Enclosure is its ability to significantly increase storage capacity. With support for up to twelve drives in a single enclosure and the option to add more enclosures as needed, businesses can store vast amounts of data, from documents and multimedia files to databases and backups.
- Cost-Effective Expansion: The MD1200 offers a cost-effective way to expand your storage infrastructure. Rather than investing in entirely new storage systems, you can simply add additional enclosures to meet your growing storage needs. This approach saves on capital expenditure and allows you to allocate resources more efficiently.
- Improved Data Availability: The hot-swappable drive bays and redundant controllers ensure that your data remains available and accessible at all times. The ability to replace or upgrade drives without disrupting operations minimizes downtime and enhances data availability.
- Data Redundancy and Security: With support for RAID configurations, the MD1200 provides data redundancy and security. This is essential for businesses that rely on their data for critical operations. In the event of a drive failure, RAID ensures that your data is protected, and the system continues to operate.
- Easy Management and Monitoring: The MD1200 is designed for easy management and monitoring. The included management software allows IT professionals to keep an eye on the storage array’s health, making it simpler to detect and address potential issues before they become critical.
Technical Specifications
- Drive Support: The Dell MD1200 Drive Enclosure can accommodate 3.5″ and 2.5″ SAS or Nearline SAS hard drives. This flexibility allows you to choose the drive types that best suit your storage requirements.
- Maximum Capacity: With support for up to twelve drives in a single enclosure and the ability to connect multiple enclosures, the MD1200 offers substantial storage capacity. The maximum capacity depends on the size of the hard drives used but can reach several terabytes or more.
- RAID Support: The MD1200 supports various RAID levels, including RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 10, RAID 5, and RAID 6. These configurations provide different levels of data redundancy and performance, allowing you to choose the one that fits your needs.
- Host Connectivity: The MD1200 offers various connectivity options, including 6Gb/s SAS, 3Gb/s SAS, and 6Gb/s SATA. These connectivity options ensure compatibility with a wide range of host servers and storage controllers.
- Dual Controllers: The MD1200 comes with dual controllers to enhance system reliability. These controllers work in tandem to provide redundancy and fault tolerance, reducing the risk of system downtime.
- Management Software: Dell provides management software that simplifies the monitoring and maintenance of the MD1200 Drive Enclosure. This software allows you to check the status of the enclosure, configure RAID settings, and perform necessary updates.
Use Cases
- Small and Medium-Sized Businesses: Small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) often face storage constraints as they grow. The Dell MD1200 Drive Enclosure is an excellent choice for SMBs looking to expand their storage capacity without breaking the bank. Its scalability, cost-effective expansion, and data protection features make it a valuable addition to their IT infrastructure.
- Data Centers: Data centers handle massive volumes of data, and the need for scalable and reliable storage solutions is paramount. The MD1200’s high storage capacity, support for multiple enclosures, and redundancy features are well-suited for data centers, ensuring that data is stored securely and is readily available.
- Video Production and Media Companies: Companies involved in video production, media editing, and content creation often deal with large multimedia files that demand extensive storage. The MD1200 can easily accommodate these data-intensive workloads, making it an ideal choice for such businesses.
- Backup and Disaster Recovery: Backup and disaster recovery operations require dependable storage solutions. The MD1200’s support for RAID configurations and hot-swappable drives ensures that backup data is protected and readily accessible when needed.
General Information about this Dell MD1200
- Manufacturer: Dell
- Part Number or SKU# MD1200
- Device Type: Storage Cage
- Product Name: Enclosure
Technical Information of 120 TB Expansion Array
- Enclosure Type: Rack-Mountable-2U
- Installed Devices / Modules Qty: 0
- Supported Devices / Modules Qty: 12
- Supported Drives: Sas-2
- Max Supported Capacity: 120 TB
- Hdd Array External Interface: SAS 6GBPS
- Type: 2 X Raid ( PCI-E 2.0 X4 )
- Channel Qty: 8
- Interface Type: Sas 6gb/s
- Data Transfer Rate: 600 Mbps
- Cache / Buffer Size ( Max ): 512 Mb
- Max Storage Devices Qty: 12
- Raid Level: Raid 0, Raid 1, Raid 5, Raid 6, Raid 10, Raid 50, Raid 60
Expansion / Connectivity for SAS Hard Drive Array
- Expansion Bays: 12 (total) -Hot-swap
- Interfaces: 2 X Sas 6gb/s ( Input )-26 Pin 4x Shielded Mini Multilane Sas (sff-8088) 2 X Sas 6gb/s ( Output ) – 26 Pin 4x Shielded Mini Multilane Sas (sff-8088) 2 X Serial ( Management )-6 Pin Mini-din (ps/2 Style)
Power for this Rack-Mountable Expansion Array
- Power Device: 2 X Internal Power Supply – Hot-plug
- Max Supported Qty: 2
- Power Redundancy: Yes
- Power Redundancy Scheme: 1+1
- Voltage Required: Ac 120/230 V – 50/60 Hz
- Power Provided: 600 Watt
In summary, the Dell MD1200 Drive Enclosure is a versatile and dependable storage solution that offers high storage capacity, scalability, data protection, and easy management. Its flexibility makes it suitable for various use cases, from small businesses to data centers and media production companies.
By understanding its key features, benefits, technical specifications, and use cases, you can make an informed decision about whether the MD1200 is the right solution to meet your storage needs. Proper installation, configuration, and maintenance are essential to ensure that the enclosure operates efficiently and reliably.
The Dell MD1200 Drive Enclosure is a valuable asset for businesses seeking to expand their storage capacity and enhance data management. With its impressive features and benefits, it provides a cost-effective and reliable solution for addressing the ever-growing demands of data storage in today’s digital world.
