Sourced for enterprise IT teams, the Dell C550K (C550K - Dell 160GB 7200RPM SATA 3Gb/s 3.5-inch Hard Drive) is a Desktop Hard Drive component appropriate for new-build, expansion, or warranty-replacement procurement. Technical specifications include capacity of 160 GB, spindle speed of 7,200 RPM, form factor of 3.5-inch, interface of SATA, data rate of 3 Gb/s. Appropriate for OS boot tier (Windows Server, RHEL, Ubuntu Server, ESXi), application data tier, database log volumes, and tier-2 capacity in mixed-storage clusters. Pro Disk Network supplies the C550K to US business buyers. Stocked units ship same-day on in-stock orders placed before 3pm ET. Pro Disk Network applies a 90-day functional warranty. Free US ground shipping on orders over $150; same-day expedited (UPS Next Day Air, FedEx Priority) available at checkout.
The C550K is a Dell desktop hard drive component with capacity 160 GB, spindle speed 7,200 RPM, form factor 3.5-inch. Pro Disk Network sells the C550K for $294.37 with same-day US shipping and a 30-day return guarantee.
Quick Answer: Will the C550K work with my RAID controller?
The C550K 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 C550K ship?
Pro Disk Network dispatches the C550K same-day on orders confirmed before 3 pm ET. Multi-pallet projects requiring crating ship within 2 business days. International shipping (Canada, Mexico, EU, APAC) takes 3-7 business days via DHL Express or FedEx International Priority.
The C550K 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.
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 C550K?
The C550K is a Dell enterprise-grade hard drive with capacity 160 GB and spindle speed 7,200 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 C550K
Pros
Direct-to-rack shipping on multi-pack orders
Sequential serial-number bundling for cluster builds
Cons
Not enterprise NVMe — sub-100 µs latency workloads need a different SKU
Bulk capacity is the value play, not raw IOPS
Larger orders may ship via LTL freight (signature required)
Frequently Asked Questions about C550K
Is the C550K a genuine Dell part?
Yes. Pro Disk Network sources every C550K 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 C550K work with my RAID controller?
The C550K 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 C550K ship?
Pro Disk Network dispatches the C550K same-day on orders confirmed before 3 pm ET. Multi-pallet projects requiring crating ship within 2 business days. International shipping (Canada, Mexico, EU, APAC) takes 3-7 business days via DHL Express or FedEx International Priority.
What is the warranty on the C550K?
New C550K 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 C550K?
Email sales@prodisknetwork.com with the quantity and target ship date for a quote within one business day.
Pro Disk Network Buyer’s Guide: Desktop Hard Drive
How to Pick the Right Drive Capacity for Your Use Case
If the C550K is going into a RAID array, choose RAID 6 over RAID 5 for any capacity tier built from drives larger than 4 TB. The probability of a second drive failing during rebuild from a 6+ TB rebuild window is high enough that single-parity is no longer responsible. For all-flash arrays, RAID 10 still wins on write-amplification-sensitive workloads (OLTP databases, VDI write-cache).
Drive Health Monitoring: SMART, Workload Rating, and Predictive Failure
Once the C550K is in production, the single most impactful operational practice is SMART monitoring tied to your existing alerting stack. SMART attributes 187 (reported uncorrectable errors), 197 (current pending sector count), and 198 (offline uncorrectable sector count) are the leading indicators of impending drive failure. Alert on non-zero values, not just on absolute thresholds; once these attributes leave zero, the drive has typically 30-90 days of useful life remaining.