This Dell 342-3521 delivers Server Hard Drive functionality and is built for 24/7 enterprise duty cycles. Technical specifications include capacity of 300 GB, spindle speed of 15,000 RPM, form factor of 2.5-inch, interface of SAS, data rate of 6 Gb/s. Workload fit covers Hyper-V cluster storage, Proxmox VE shared storage, Ceph OSDs, MinIO erasure-coded pools, and bulk file-server (SMB/NFS) duty. Pro Disk Network sources the 342-3521 through reputable distribution channels and applies a verification check against the OEM compatibility matrix before each unit is added to active inventory. Each unit ships from a US fulfillment hub (Hillsboro OR, Atlanta GA, or Phoenix AZ) with same-day dispatch on in-stock orders before 3pm ET. 90-day Pro Disk Network functional warranty included; free US ground shipping on orders over $150.
The 342-3521 is a Dell server hard drive component with capacity 300 GB, spindle speed 15,000 RPM, form factor 2.5-inch. Pro Disk Network sells the 342-3521 for $491.64 with same-day US shipping and a 30-day return guarantee.
Reviewed By
Reviewed by:Pro Disk Network Engineering Team — . Specifications, compatibility, and pricing for the 342-3521 are shown on this page.
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Same-Day US Shipping — orders before 3pm ET ship today via UPS
30-Day Returns — pre-paid label on DOA and defective items
Quick Answer: Will the 342-3521 work with my RAID controller?
The 342-3521 operates with any standard SAS/SATA/NVMe-compatible RAID controller (Dell PERC, HPE Smart Array, LSI/Broadcom MegaRAID, Adaptec, IBM ServeRAID, Lenovo ThinkSystem RAID). Mixing this drive in the same RAID volume with drives of different speed/capacity is supported but never recommended.
How fast does the 342-3521 ship?
342-3521 orders placed before 3 pm ET ship the same business day from US warehouses. Delivery is next business day to most metro ZIPs via FedEx/UPS overnight; ground delivery covers remaining US in 1-4 business days.
The 342-3521 is deployed by US enterprises, MSPs, government, and education customers across multiple infrastructure scenarios. Below are the most common deployment patterns Pro Disk Network sees in real-world orders.
Veeam Backup Repository — Cost-optimised backup target for Veeam B&R, Rubrik, or Cohesity primary backup tier. RAID 6 over 8–24 drives delivers 100+ TB usable per server.
Splunk Warm/Cold Tier — Appropriate for Splunk warm/cold/frozen indexes where ingest write rates are below 200 MB/s per node. Avoid for hot-tier indexes — use NVMe instead.
File Server / SMB Shares — General-purpose Windows Server / Samba shares for departmental file storage. RAID 5 for capacity, RAID 10 for IOPS-sensitive workloads.
Object Storage (Ceph / MinIO) — JBOD presentation behind Ceph OSDs or MinIO erasure-coded pools. Mix with NVMe metadata drives for production object stores.
What is the 342-3521?
The 342-3521 is a Dell enterprise-grade hard drive with capacity 300 GB and spindle speed 15,000 RPM, manufactured by Dell. Pro Disk Network ships this part new and certified-refurbished from our US warehouse with same-day dispatch on orders placed before 3 PM ET, backed by a 30-day return guarantee.
Pros & Cons of 342-3521
Pros
Same-day US shipping from our US warehouse
Cons
Designed for capacity tier, not write-intensive cache
Not a drop-in for desktop NAS without verifying caddy
Some firmware revs locked to specific RAID-controller families
Frequently Asked Questions about 342-3521
Is the 342-3521 a genuine Dell part?
Yes. Pro Disk Network sources every 342-3521 as factory-original Dell inventory. New units arrive sealed in OEM packaging; refurbished units are pulled from decommissioned Dell servers, surface-tested, and re-warranted by Pro Disk Network for 90 days.
Will the 342-3521 work with my RAID controller?
The 342-3521 operates with any standard SAS/SATA/NVMe-compatible RAID controller (Dell PERC, HPE Smart Array, LSI/Broadcom MegaRAID, Adaptec, IBM ServeRAID, Lenovo ThinkSystem RAID). Mixing this drive in the same RAID volume with drives of different speed/capacity is supported but never recommended.
How fast does the 342-3521 ship?
342-3521 orders placed before 3 pm ET ship the same business day from US warehouses. Delivery is next business day to most metro ZIPs via FedEx/UPS overnight; ground delivery covers remaining US in 1-4 business days.
What is the warranty on the 342-3521?
New 342-3521 units carry the full Dell manufacturer warranty (typically 1 to 5 years depending on product line). Refurbished and bulk-OEM units include a Pro Disk Network advance-replacement warranty (90 days refurbished). DOA replacement is free within 30 days of receipt.
Do you offer bulk pricing for the 342-3521?
Email sales@prodisknetwork.com with the quantity and target ship date for a quote within one business day.
Other parts that share the 342 series prefix — useful when sourcing matched lots, hot-spare pools, or capacity-tier expansions.
342-3500 — 342-3500 - Dell 250GB 7200RPM SATA 3Gb/s 2.5-inch Hard Drive — $385.47
342-3501 — 342-3501 - Dell 500GB 7200RPM SATA 3Gb/s 2.5-inch Hard Drive — $529.58
342-3502 — 342-3502 - Dell 1TB 7200RPM SATA 3GB/s 2.5-inch Hot-pluggable Hard Drive — $249.39
342-3514 — 342-3514 - Dell 500GB 7200RPM SATA 3GB/s 3.5-inch Low Profile (1.0 inch) Hard Drive with Tray for POWERE — $73.68
342-3515 — 342-3515 - Dell 3TB 7200RPM SAS 6Gb/s 3.5-inch Hard Drive — $259.50
342-3516 — 342-3516 - Dell 1TB 7200RPM SATA 3GB/s 2.5-inch Hard Drive with Tray for PowerEdge Server — $371.75
342-3517 — 342-3517 - Dell 250GB 7200RPM SATA 3Gb/s 2.5-inch Hard Drive — $173.78
342-3519 — 342-3519 - Dell 1TB 7200RPM SAS 6GB/s Near-Line 2.5-inch Internal Hard Disk Drive — $481.92
342-3520 — 342-3520 - Dell 1TB 7200RPM SAS 6Gb/s lf-Encrypting 2.5-inch Hard Drive with Tray for PowerEdge rver — $291.79
342-3522 — 342-3522 - Dell 900GB 10000RPM SAS 6Gb/s Hot-Swappable 2.5-inch Hard Drive with Tray — $273.91
342-3524 — 342-3524 - Dell 900GB 10000RPM SAS 6GB/s 2.5-inch Internal Hard Disk Drive — $791.83
342-3527 — 342-3527 - Dell 1TB 7200RPM SAS 6Gb/s Near Line Self-Encrypting 2.5-inch Hot Pluggable Hard Drive with Tray for PowerEdge Server — $493.67
Pro Disk Network Buyer’s Guide: Server Hard Drive
How to Pick the Right Drive Capacity for Your Use Case
For VMware vSAN deployments, the 342-3521 is best deployed in the capacity tier with NVMe cache drives in front. Size the cache layer at 10% of usable capacity for write-intensive workloads and 5% for read-leaning workloads. For Veeam backup repositories, plan around 1.5× the size of your protected estate to allow for incremental forever chains plus synthetic fulls. Splunk warm tier sizing should follow the daily ingest rate × retention days × 1.6 compression overhead.
Drive Health Monitoring: SMART, Workload Rating, and Predictive Failure
For VMware ESXi 8 hosts, enable vSphere's predictive-failure analysis on the 342-3521 via the host's storage device list. The host queries SMART on a regular cadence and surfaces yellow/red warnings in vCenter before the drive fails outright. On Linux, use smartctl piped to your monitoring system; on Windows Server, Storage Spaces exposes health state directly in Server Manager.