Dell 16TB 7.2K RPM NLSAS 12Gb/s 512e 3.5in Hot-Plug Hard Drive

The Dell 16TB 7.2K RPM NLSAS 12Gb/s 512e 3.5-inch Hot-Plug Hard Drive (part number 400-BLLF) is a factory-validated near-line SAS drive engineered for high-capacity, sequential-access enterprise workloads. Built on a 3.5-inch Large Form Factor (LFF) platform, it connects via a dual-port 12Gb/s SAS interface, delivering the bandwidth and protocol reliability demanded by modern PowerEdge server and PowerVault storage array deployments. The 512e (512-byte emulation) sector format ensures broad compatibility with existing enterprise operating environments while leveraging the physical 4K sector architecture of modern high-density platters.

Operating at 7,200 RPM, the drive is optimized for bulk sequential throughput rather than random IOPS, making it the appropriate tier for capacity-intensive secondary and tertiary storage tiers. The hot-plug mechanical design allows the drive to be inserted or removed from a running system without powering down, a critical operational attribute in environments where continuous availability is required. Dell's factory validation process ensures that this drive is tested and qualified for compatibility with supported PowerEdge and PowerVault platforms, reducing integration risk in production deployments.

Launched in Q1 2022, the 400-BLLF addresses the ongoing demand for large-capacity NLSAS drives in data center refresh cycles. At 16TB native capacity, it delivers a meaningful density increase over prior-generation drives in the same LFF footprint, enabling organizations to scale storage capacity within existing rack and backplane infrastructure. Target environments include backup repositories, archival systems, object storage back-ends, and high-capacity NAS tiers where sustained throughput, drive longevity, and SAS protocol advantages—such as dual-port redundancy and end-to-end data path protection—take priority over latency.

Ideal for

• High-capacity backup and recovery repositories requiring sustained sequential write throughput and large native drive capacity within PowerVault MD or ME series arrays
• Cold and warm data archive tiers in data centers where SAS dual-port redundancy is required for data path protection and shelf-level HA configurations
• Scale-out NAS and object storage back-ends that aggregate large numbers of high-density drives to serve unstructured data growth across enterprise and media workloads
• PowerEdge server internal storage for bulk data ingestion pipelines, log aggregation, and data lake landing zones where capacity density outweighs low-latency requirements
• Data center infrastructure refresh projects replacing end-of-life smaller-capacity NLSAS drives in existing 3.5-inch hot-plug backplane slots without requiring chassis changes
• Hierarchical Storage Management (HSM) secondary tiers where automated data movement policies migrate aging or infrequently accessed data from SSD or 10K SAS primary storage onto high-capacity NLSAS media

Technical specifications

Available from Omnixon Global. Submit an RFQ and our team will confirm configuration and availability for your order.