HD options new blades.

[infonull]

Hey all. Just purchased a bunch of new blades (second hand, new for me).

I have received them and they are not seeing the HD's. No lights or anything. When I remove the cover, I can see nothing is connected to the HD backplane (not sure if thats what you call it)

I can see there is no Smart controller hardware on top or any cables to it or anything.

Just need to know what my options are? don't care about speed or raid, only takes me 10 mins to reclone to any new hd. I am fairly new to this. Just need cheapest option to be able to see hd's.

Thanks in advance

[Jags_21]

Hi,

All HPE Blades have an integrated storage controller by default supporting RAID 0 or RAID 1, please search the support.hpe.com portal for more details on the model you own

Thanks,

[Torsten.]

Without the exact model nobody can help you.

[infonull]

Oh boy, I can't believe I forgot that, sorry, BL460c gen9. Thanks for the replies too. Please correct me if I am wrong then, but after looking at details of the Gen9, I think I need to buy a cable that will connect the backplane of the hard drive caddy to the internal sata port? Is this correct? Also does that mean I cannot use my sas drives? They seem to push into the caddy OK, albeit a bit tight, and they stick out a bit.

Thanks again,

Jono

[BPSingh · Accepted solution]

Greetings!

I think I need to buy a cable that will connect the backplane of the hard drive caddy to the internal sata port?

Yes, if neither the HPE Smart Array P244br nor the HPE H244br controllers are installed then yes a SATA cable would be required to connect to onboard B140i controller. 

https://partsurfer.hpe.com/ShowPhoto.aspx?partnumber=784961-001 

Page# 73 https://support.hpe.com/hpesc/public/docDisplay?docId=c04410341&docLocale=en_US 

The port to connect is item 14 on page number 69. 

-> Please ensure the server BIOS boot mode is UEFI, HP Dynamic Smart Array B140i Controller is not supported in Legacy mode.
-> Ensure that the RAID controller is enabled in BIOS. Steps below:

From the System Utilities screen (F9), select System Configuration → BIOS/Platform Configuration (RBSU) → System Options → SATA Controller Options → Embedded SATA Configuration →
Enable HPE Dynamic Smart Array RAID Support, and then press the Enter key. Press the F10 key to save your selection.

If RAID is not desired then set it to enable SATA AHCI Support.

-> B140i controller do not support SAS drives, only SATA drives are supported. Supported SATA drives listed on server quickspecs:

https://www.hpe.com/psnow/doc/c04347343?jumpid=in_lit-psnow-red 

[infonull]

Wow, that is an amazing reply. Thanks so much, that is everything I needed to know, and thanks for taking the time to be so thorough.

Jono

[infonull]

Sorry to revisit this, but can someone tell me if the referenced cable (here), does power as well as data? Or is there another cable I need to get power to the drives?

This is what my blade looks like atm: 

In the documentation, I can see another something else there that the sata cable connects to:

Thanks in advance

Jono

[sgunelius]

By the way, in your image the drive displayed below the server isn't compatible with the BL460c Gen9.  That drive release lever is pretty distinctive and that drive only compatible with previous generations of the ProLiant Blade (G1, G5, G6 & G7) and though they may be SAS or SATA drives, the interface is completely different, which is why it probably isn't flush with the server face when inserted.

Drives for Gen8-10 should look like this:

Here's a video from HPE's support port that illustrates drive replacement and what those drives should look like:

https://support.hpe.com/hpesc/public/videoDisplay?videoId=vpsg00000868en_us

Scott