Samsung MZILT3T8HBLS-00007 3.84TB SAS 12G 2.5in Read Intensive SSD PM1643a

The Samsung MZILT3T8HBLS-00007 is a 3.84TB PM1643a solid state drive with a 12Gb/s SAS interface in a 2.5-inch, 15mm housing. It uses Samsung TLC V-NAND and is aimed at servers and storage arrays that are built around SAS RAID controllers or host bus adapters rather than NVMe.

The PM1643a is a read-intensive drive rated at 1 drive write per day. That makes it a good fit for file servers, virtualization datastores, email and collaboration platforms, and reporting databases where most activity is reads. Listed sequential speeds are up to 2,100 MB/s read and 2,000 MB/s write. SAS is a common choice for organizations that want to keep their existing RAID controllers, cabling and backplanes while moving off spinning disks, since a SAS SSD drops into the same bays as a 2.5-inch SAS hard drive.

A few physical and electrical points matter here. The drive is 15mm thick, so it fits standard 2.5-inch server bays but not slots designed only for 7mm drives. SAS drives need a SAS controller or SAS backplane; they will not run on a SATA-only port. On HPE, Dell and Lenovo servers you will need the correct hot-plug carrier, and vendor management software may flag a generic Samsung drive as non-certified even though it operates normally. If your array firmware only accepts its own branded drives, confirm that first.

Before you order, check:

• Your controller and backplane support 12Gb/s SAS (6Gb/s SAS also works at lower speed)
• The bay accepts 15mm drives
• You have the right carrier for your chassis
• Daily writes stay near or under 1 DWPD