HPE ProLiant hard drives: what the QuickSpecs list for the DL380 and DL360, and UK prices

HPE ProLiant hard drives by server: what the QuickSpecs list

HPE documents the drives for a ProLiant server in its QuickSpecs. The drives in it are HPE's own products, with names such as "HPE 20TB SAS 12G Business Critical 7.2K LFF SC 1-year Warranty Helium 512e ISE Multi Vendor HDD". This page uses three of those documents: the DL380 Gen10 QuickSpecs, version 77 of 16 June 2025; the DL380 Gen11 QuickSpecs, version 49 of 2 November 2026; and the DL360 Gen10 QuickSpecs. HPE has marked both Gen10 documents retired, with the base products obsolete and no longer available for sale, so for those two servers the drive question is about a machine already in service.

Read down the first column and the sizes step up by generation and chassis: 18TB in the DL360 Gen10's maximum row, 20TB on the DL380 Gen10 list, 26TB on the DL380 Gen11 list. These are HPE's lists of what it sells for each machine. They are not a statement about what a bay can physically hold, and we make no claim about drives the lists leave out.

HPE's storage examples use smaller drives than the largest on each list: twelve plus four plus three 16TB drives with two 3.84TB SSDs on the DL380 Gen10, and 18TB drives on the Gen11. Treat them as illustrations of a full chassis, not as ceilings. The DL360 Gen10 also lists a 10 SFF NVMe Premium chassis alongside its LFF option.

Each server has its own page with the chassis rules that differ between them: HPE DL380 Gen10 hard drives, HPE DL380 Gen11 hard drives and HPE DL360 Gen10 hard drives.

SC, BC and LP in HPE drive names: the carrier follows the controller

Two of the labels in HPE drive names are carrier types. The DL380 Gen10 QuickSpecs names them, Smart Carrier (SC) and Basic Carrier (BC), and ties each to a controller type:

• Smart Array controllers only support Smart Carrier drives.
• Smart Carrier (SC) drives will not function with Broadcom controllers.
• Only Basic Carrier (BC) drives listed in the QuickSpecs will function with Broadcom MegaRAID controllers.
• Configurations must not mix BC and SC drives.

So the carrier label is a fit check, not decoration: find out which controller your server runs before choosing an HPE-labelled drive. HPE describes drives with smart carriers as designed to provide an interface to communicate critical status and management information. Its hard drive QuickSpecs heads its columns "Smart Carrier SKU" and "Low Profile SKU", the SC and LP that appear in the Gen10 and Gen11 drive names. The controller rule above is stated in the DL380 Gen10 document; for other servers, check the note in that server's own QuickSpecs.

The same names also say "1-year Warranty". That describes HPE's own drives. It says nothing about a maker-branded drive in the tables below, whose terms come from its maker and the seller on the listing.

HPE server hard drives: 3.5-inch SAS on Amazon.co.uk

These rows are 3.5-inch enterprise SAS drives sold under the drive maker's own name, ranked by price per terabyte. They match HPE's LFF SAS entries on form factor and interface only; none is an HPE part, and none comes in an HPE carrier. The table shows 8 listings right now. Lowest £/TB at the last check: £30.00/TB. Prices are pounds sterling inc VAT.

The table has no capacity cap, so it can show sizes above the 20TB on the DL380 Gen10 list or the 18TB in the DL360 Gen10's maximum row. A row above your server's figure is outside HPE's list for it, and we have not found a document that states how that server treats it. New and used rows share the table.

3.5-inch SATA hard drives for ProLiant LFF bays

HPE lists SATA 6G LFF drives beside the SAS 12G ones in both DL380 generations, at the same top sizes: 20TB on the Gen10 and 26TB on the Gen11. The table shows 8 listings right now. Lowest £/TB at the last check: £20.49/TB.

HPE server hard disk options for SFF bays: 2.5-inch SAS

SFF bays take 2.5-inch drives. On a 12 LFF DL380 Gen10, the optional rear drive bay adds two SFF slots beside three more LFF, and HPE's storage example puts two 3.84TB drives there. The table shows 6 listings right now.

HPE-labelled option drives: what the option numbers say

HPE also sells drives under option numbers ending in -B21. HPE's hard disk drive QuickSpecs describes four of them as follows:

• 781518-B21: 1.2TB, 10K rpm, SAS 12G, SFF.
• 652605-B21: HPE 146GB SAS 6G Enterprise 15K.
• 834031-B21: HPE 8TB SAS 12G Midline 7.2K LFF (3.5in) LP 1yr Wty 512e.
• 881781-B21: HPE 12TB SAS 12G Midline 7.2K LFF (3.5in) LP 1yr Wty Helium 512e.

The option QuickSpecs we used for these numbers were copies hosted by third parties, jarcomputers.com and router-switch.com, not hpe.com. We have not found an HPE document that names a server model for these option numbers, so check your server's own QuickSpecs for the exact option number, and its carrier label against your controller, before buying one.

This table may be short or empty at times. Where it shows a row, the option number in the title is the thing to match against your server's QuickSpecs, not the capacity alone.

HPE ProLiant hard drive fit: what to check

• Server and generation. A DL380 Gen10 and a DL380 Gen11 have different lists and different labels in their drive names.
• Controller and carrier. On the DL380 Gen10, Smart Array controllers take SC drives and Broadcom MegaRAID controllers take BC drives, never mixed.
• Bay size. LFF bays take 3.5-inch drives and SFF bays 2.5-inch drives; a DL380 Gen10 with the rear option has both.
• Interface. HPE lists SAS 12G and SATA 6G versions of its LFF drives; pick the one your controller and backplane use.
• Capacity and version. Hold the size against your server's QuickSpecs, and note the version you checked.