Solid State Drives questions

Which Solid State Drives brands does Memory Clearance carry?

The most listed brands in Solid State Drives are Dell, HPE, Samsung, HP, EMC and Micron. Every listing names its manufacturer and part number, so you can search by either.

Are these Solid State Drives products new or refurbished?

Both. Of the 38,048 listings, 22,471 state a condition: 15,626 are refurbished and 6,845 are new. The other 15,577 do not record one, so ask for it when you request a quote. The condition shown on a listing is the condition you receive.

How do I get a price on a Solid State Drives part?

14,893 Solid State Drives listings show a price you can order at. Items marked "Call for Price" have a Request for Quote button; send the part number and quantity and the sales team replies weekdays between 8:00 am and 5:00 pm PST.

How to choose an enterprise SSD

Enterprise solid state drives are flash drives built for server duty: SAS, SATA, and NVMe interfaces, in 2.5-inch and 3.5-inch hot-swap, M.2, U.2, and PCIe add-in-card form factors, graded by endurance class (read-intensive, mixed-use, write-intensive). Choosing one comes down to three checks: the interface your controller or backplane supports, the endurance class your workload needs, and the physical form factor of the bay, including whether the listing ships with the hot-swap tray. Memory Clearance lists enterprise SSDs across Dell, HPE, Samsung, Micron, Intel and other OEM part numbers, in new and refurbished condition (what each grade means).

Interface first. SATA 6Gb/s drives work on SAS backplanes; SAS drives do not work on SATA-only controllers. SAS runs at 12Gb/s on most current platforms and is the default for hot-swap enterprise bays. NVMe connects over PCIe lanes and bypasses the SAS/SATA controller entirely: in servers it appears as U.2 2.5-inch hot-swap drives, M.2 boot modules (for example Dell BOSS cards), and HHHL add-in cards. U.2 and M.2 are both NVMe but are not interchangeable.

Endurance second. DWPD (drive writes per day) is the number of full-capacity writes per day the drive is rated to sustain over its warranty period. Read-intensive drives (typically around 1 DWPD) suit file, web, and read-heavy database duty. Mixed-use (typically around 3 DWPD) is the general virtualization default. Write-intensive (typically 10 DWPD and up) is for logging, caching, and heavy OLTP. Match the class of the drive you are replacing, or of the array it joins. Definitions: DWPD, TBW and endurance classes.

Tray last, and it is the most common ordering mistake in this category. Enterprise drive listings come two ways: with the hot-swap tray for a stated server generation, or bare. Every listing name here states which. A bare drive is correct for an existing tray or a non-hot-swap bay; a hot-swap bay with no tray on hand needs the "with tray" SKU. Note that Dell Certified and HPE digitally-signed-firmware drives carry OEM firmware the server's management stack expects; a generic drive of the same capacity may work but may not report health data the same way.

Solid state drives buying questions

Does an enterprise SSD include the drive tray?

Only if the listing says so. Drive SKUs here are explicitly "with tray" (generation-matched, ready for the hot-swap bay) or bare. If you are unsure which your chassis needs, send the server model with your quote request.

SAS or SATA for a server?

SAS offers 12Gb/s links and dual-port redundancy and is the enterprise default; SATA costs less and is fine for read-heavy and boot duty. The deciding fact: SATA works on a SAS backplane, SAS does not work on a SATA controller.

What does "mixed use" mean on an SSD?

An endurance class, typically around 3 drive writes per day: the middle ground between read-intensive and write-intensive drives. Match it when replacing an array member.

Can I use a desktop SSD in a server?

It will usually function, but client drives lack power-loss protection and enterprise endurance ratings, and OEM management tooling may not recognize them. For anything past lab or boot duty, use an enterprise part. The condition shown on a listing is the condition you receive; warranty terms are on the warranty page. See condition grades.

Buying solid state drives in volume

Quantity, not price, is usually the constraint on a large secondary-market order. In Solid State Drives we hold 815 distinct parts with 25 or more units available, 157,402 units in total. Depth varies by part number, so a volume request is answered against the exact number you need.

Send the part number, the quantity, the condition you will accept and the server model. Endurance class matters more at volume than it does on a single drive, so say what the workload is: DWPD and endurance explains the classes. Send a volume request through the contact form, putting the part numbers and quantities in the message, or read how to get quantity pricing. Quotes are answered weekdays 8:00 am to 5:00 pm PST.

Browse enterprise SSDs by specification

Each collection below is this category narrowed to one specification, on its own page with its own listing count. Start there when you already know the generation, interface, capacity or family you need.

• NVMe Enterprise SSDs
• U.2 NVMe SSDs
• U.3 NVMe SSDs
• M.2 SSDs
• E1.S NVMe SSDs
• 12Gb/s SAS Enterprise SSDs
• 960GB Enterprise SSDs
• 1.92TB Enterprise SSDs
• 3.84TB Enterprise SSDs
• 7.68TB Enterprise SSDs
• 15.36TB Enterprise SSDs
• Read-Intensive Enterprise SSDs
• Mixed-Use Enterprise SSDs
• Write-Intensive Enterprise SSDs
• SSDs for Dell PowerEdge 14G Servers
• SSDs for Dell PowerEdge 15G Servers
• SSDs for HPE ProLiant Gen9 Servers
• SSDs for HPE ProLiant Gen10 Servers

Every collection by specification