Dell SATA Hard Drives

Dell SATA hard drives are ordered far more often by part number than by specification, and with good reason: the Dell label matters to how the drive is identified and managed once it is in the machine.

Reading a Dell drive part number

Dell uses two conventions side by side, and both appear throughout our stock:

• Five-character alphanumeric codes such as UD313 or JP208 — the most common form on drive labels
• Three-part numeric codes such as 341-3860 — typically the orderable Dell SKU

Either will identify a drive precisely, which is why we list both wherever the label carries them. If you are replacing a failed disk, the part number on the existing drive is the most reliable thing to search on.

Hot-plug versus internal

A portion of our Dell SATA stock is hot-pluggable, meaning it was fitted to a PowerEdge carrier. The tray design changed across PowerEdge generations, so a hot-plug drive taken from one generation will not necessarily seat in another. Drives destined for OptiPlex, Precision and similar desktop chassis are usually non-hot-plug and mount conventionally. Caddies are listed separately on our Dell drive caddy page.

Speeds and interface generations

Most Dell SATA drives we carry are 7200RPM, with a substantial number of 5400RPM units, largely 2.5-inch. Interface generations span 1.5Gb/s, 3Gb/s and 6Gb/s, and all three interoperate — a faster drive simply negotiates down in an older port.

Whether a non-Dell drive will report correctly through iDRAC or a PERC controller depends on the controller and firmware involved, so we do not make blanket claims either way. Give us your service tag or the part number you are replacing and we will confirm what fits.