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An affordable single-socket, quad-core server with high performance
and data protection for small, medium, and large businesses
Please see the Legal Information section for important notices and information.
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2.5-inch Hot-Swap SAS (3 Gbps or 6Gbps)
• 15,000 RPMs — 73.4 or 146.8GB (1.17TB maximum)
• 10,000 RPMs —146.8 or 300GB (2.4TB)
• 7,200 RPMs —500GB (4TB)
3.5-inch Hot-Swap SATA
• 10,000 RPMs — 250, 500 or 750GB (3TB maximum)
• 7,200 RPMs — 1TB (4.0TB)
3.5-inch Simple-Swap SATA
• 10,000 RPMs — 250, 500 or 750GB (3TB maximum)
• 7,200 RPMs — 1TB (4.0TB)
Notes: Enterprise-class 500GB or higher SATA drives offer increased reliability compared to lower-
capacity SATA drives. Simple-swap SATA drives are not hot-swappable (the system must first be
powered off); however, no tools or jumpers are required for installation and removal, allowing for faster,
simpler servicing than fixed drives. Hot-swap SAS drives use the Converged Tray for interchangeability
with other IBM System x
®
systems.
If you need more storage space, terabyte capacities are possible with external direct-attach, NAS, and
SAN solutions.
Drive Bays
Some x3200 M3 models (3.5-inch HDD models) contain 7 drive bays, while others (2.5-inch HDD
models for CTO, via special bid) provide 11 drive bays. All models offer two 5.25-inch bays, one 3.5-
inch floppy drive bay, and either four 3.5-inch HDD bays or eight 2.5-inch HDD bays (via CTO). Some
models support up to four hot-swap SAS/SATA or simple-swap SATA drives; other models support
up to four simple-swap SATA drives.
An optical drive with a SATA interface ships standard in one 5.25-inch bay. The other 5.25-inch bay
supports one of several backup options: a half-high tape drive, a DVD-ROM drive, or an RDX
Removable Hard Disk Storage System. An internal USB port is provided standard for use with a tape
drive or USB key with embedded hypervisor. An external USB floppy drive may be used, if needed.
Hot-swap and simple-swap drives may be inserted or removed through the front of the server. Hot-swap
drives do not require powering off the system. Simple-swap SATA drives do require powering off the
system first; however, no tools or jumpers are required for installation and removal, allowing for faster,
simpler servicing than fixed drives.
For still more storage, a direct-attach, iSCSI, or SAN external expansion option can be added, using an
optional controller.
Disk/Tape Controllers
Hot-swap x3200 M3 models include an integrated ServeRAID-BR10il SAS/SATA Controller V2 that
offers hardware RAID-0/1 support in a dedicated x4 PCIe slot. The controller supports up to four 3.5-
inch or eight 2.5-inch internal SAS LVD (low-voltage differential) hot-swap drives, and provides data
transfer speeds of up to 300MB per second
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in each direction (full-duplex) for SAS drives, for an
aggregate speed of 600MBps, nearly double that of Ultra320 SCSI’s 320MBps (half-duplex) bandwidth.
The serial design of the SAS bus allows maximum performance to be maintained as additional drives
are added. This controller also supports up to four Serial ATA (SATA) drives at 300MBps (half-
duplex).
Simple-swap models include a SATA controller, integrated into the Intel chipset. The controller, supports
up to four internal simple-swap LVD SATA II drives at the same 300MBps (half-duplex) throughput. A
dedicated SATA port is available for use with an internal tape drive. The optional ServeRAID-BR10il
controller can be added for RAID-0/1/1E support.
An optional ServeRAID-MR10i SAS/SATA Controller can be added to all models for RAID-10/5/6
support, as well as optional battery backup with 256MB of cache memory. The controller provides data
transfer speeds of up to 3Gbps
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per SAS port on an 8-lane 2.5 Gbps PCIe card.
The x3200 M3 also supports hardware-based full-disk encryption with RAID-0/1/10/5/50/6/60 support
using the optional ServeRAID-MR10is Vault card. Other supported SAS/SATA RAID controllers include
the IBM ServeRAID-M1015 (x8 PCIe, RAID-0/1/10), IBM ServeRAID-M5014 (x8 PCIe, 256MB cache,
battery backup, RAID-0/1/10/5/50), IBM ServeRAID-M5015 (x8 PCIe, 512MB cache, battery backup,
RAID-0/1/10/5/50) and the IBM ServeRAID-M5025 (x8 PCIe, 512MB cache, battery backup, RAID-
0/1/10/5/50, supports up to 9 external IBM System Storage EXP3000 expansion units). The IBM
ServeRAID M1000 Advance Feature Key adds RAID-5 and Self-Encrypting Disk (SED) support to the
ServeRAID-M1015.
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Data transfer rates depend on many factors and are often less than the maximum possible.
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Data transfer rates depend on many factors and are often less than the maximum possible.