HPE 822553-B21 400GB SAS 12GBPS MU-3 SFF Solid State Drive.

HPE 822553-B21 400GB SAS 12GBPS MU-3 SFF Solid-State Drive

The HPE 822553-B21 400GB SAS 12GBPS MU-3 Solid-State Drive delivers a powerful combination of performance, dependability, and endurance for enterprise-level workloads. Designed for seamless integration with HPE ProLiant servers, this drive ensures efficient storage management and consistent performance across diverse computing environments.

Main Product Highlights

• Manufacturer: Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE)
• Part Number / SKU: 822553-B21
• Storage Capacity: 400GB
• Interface Type: SAS 12GBPS
• Drive Type: Enterprise Solid-State Drive
• Form Factor: 2.5-inch Small Form Factor (SFF)
• Usage Category: Mixed Use (MU-3) – optimized for balanced read/write operations
• Supported Systems: Fully compatible with multiple generations of HPE ProLiant servers

Performance and Data Handling Efficiency

Designed with a SAS 12GBPS interface, this SSD ensures swift and reliable data throughput, minimizing latency for critical enterprise workloads. The Mixed Use (MU-3) optimization makes it ideal for applications requiring both high read and moderate write activity, such as virtualization, analytics, and cloud computing environments.

Key Performance Benefits

• Delivers consistent throughput and stable latency for demanding applications
• Optimized for read/write balance in mixed workload environments
• Superior input/output operations per second (IOPS) for faster response times
• Improved storage density and scalability with efficient 2.5-inch SFF design
• Reduced power consumption for cost-effective and energy-efficient operations

Build, Form Factor, and Design

The HPE 822553-B21 SSD features a compact and durable Small Form Factor (SFF) that allows for space optimization within server racks while maintaining robust thermal performance. This structure enhances airflow and reduces cooling requirements, which helps sustain consistent drive operation under continuous workloads.

Physical Characteristics and Build Quality

• 2.5-inch SFF design for easy integration into enterprise storage arrays
• Lightweight construction enabling efficient use in dense server environments
• Engineered with enterprise-grade durability and vibration resistance
• Hot-swappable for quick replacement and minimal downtime

Reliability and Endurance Features

HPE engineered the 822553-B21 400GB SSD to provide long-term data reliability and endurance through advanced wear-leveling and error correction technologies. This ensures sustained performance consistency even after prolonged operation in mission-critical scenarios.

Data Protection and Integrity

• Integrated Error Correction Code (ECC) for superior data accuracy
• End-to-end data path protection to prevent corruption during transfers
• Advanced wear-leveling to extend the life span of NAND flash cells
• High endurance designed for continuous enterprise workloads

Compatibility and Deployment

The HPE 822553-B21 SAS SSD offers seamless integration with a wide range of HPE ProLiant server platforms and HPE storage solutions. This compatibility makes it a flexible and scalable choice for IT environments demanding high reliability and fast data access.

Supported Server Platforms

• Fully compatible with HPE ProLiant DL and ML series servers
• Supports use in HPE BladeSystem and Synergy infrastructure
• Ideal for hybrid IT and virtualized environments
• Certified for reliability and stability across HPE storage controllers

Applications and Ideal Use Cases

• Virtualization environments requiring fast access and reliable throughput
• Database management systems with frequent data transactions
• Enterprise analytics and reporting workloads
• Cloud infrastructure needing scalable, balanced SSD performance
• Data center operations requiring consistent read/write performance

HPE 822553-B21 400GB SAS 12Gbps MU-3 2.5Inch SSD

The HPE 822553-B21 400GB SAS 12Gbps MU-3 Small Form Factor Solid State Drive is a purpose-built storage component engineered to deliver predictable performance, high endurance, and enterprise-class reliability for mixed-use workloads. Designed to fit into HPE ProLiant servers, storage arrays, and modern data center environments, this 2.5-inch small form factor SSD offers the balanced combination of capacity, sustained throughput, and low latency that IT teams require for virtualization, databases, application hosting, and tiered storage implementations. The product name, HPE 822553-B21, signifies an OEM-grade drive built to HPE’s validation and compatibility matrix, making it a straightforward selection when uptime, warranty coverage, and system-level support are critical purchasing factors.

Key Technical Characteristics and MU-3 Platform Advantages

12Gbps SAS Interface — Enterprise Connectivity

With a 12Gbps SAS interface, the HPE 822553-B21 drive provides a robust channel for host-to-flash communications that outperforms typical SATA connections in sustained multi-threaded workloads. The SAS protocol adds enterprise features such as dual-port resiliency, enhanced error handling, and advanced management capabilities, ensuring the drive integrates seamlessly into SAN fabrics and dual-path server/storage topologies. For environments that require predictable latency under heavy concurrency, the SAS 12Gbps link is particularly suited to clustered virtualization hosts and storage controllers that demand high IOPS and dependable throughput under variable load conditions.

MU-3 NAND and Firmware Optimization

The MU-3 designation denotes a mixed-use NAND optimization and firmware profile tuned for a balance between endurance and write performance. This makes the 400GB MU-3 variant an excellent fit for workloads that include a mix of reads and writes such as virtual machine storage, boot volumes, application databases, and content delivery nodes. Firmware-level algorithms on MU-3 drives prioritize wear-leveling, error correction processes, and background maintenance operations so that steady-state performance remains consistent across the drive’s lifecycle.

Small Form Factor (2.5") and Data Center Density

The 2.5-inch small form factor enables higher storage density in modern servers and storage enclosures. By using compact SFF drives like the HPE 822553-B21, data centers can host more drives per rack unit, improving capacity-per-rack and lowering the physical footprint of storage subsystems. The small form factor is compatible with hot-swap drive bays used in HPE servers and arrays, facilitating rapid replacement and minimizing maintenance windows.

Performance Profile and Real-World Throughput

IOPS and Latency Characteristics

In practical deployments, the HPE 822553-B21 400GB SAS SSD demonstrates low-latency behavior for both random read and random write I/O, yielding significantly better responsiveness than spinning media. The drive’s design emphasizes consistent IOPS across a range of queue depths, which is essential for multi-tenant virtualization platforms and transactional database systems where many small I/O operations occur simultaneously. The SAS interface helps preserve low end-to-end latencies by reducing protocol overhead and enabling advanced queuing mechanisms on enterprise HBAs and controllers.

Sustained Throughput for Mixed Use Workloads

For sequential and sustained access patterns, this SSD offers throughput levels that scale with modern SAS controllers and RAID configurations. Whether used singly for caching layers, mirrored as part of RAID-1 pairs for redundancy, or configured in RAID-10 arrays for performance and resilience, the HPE 822553-B21 400GB drive maintains stable transfer rates during prolonged read/write periods. This stability directly contributes to predictable application performance, helping operations teams meet service-level agreements and minimize performance-related incidents.

Durability, Endurance, and Enterprise Reliability

Endurance Ratings and Workload Suitability

Built for mixed-use workloads, the 400GB MU-3 SSD provides solid endurance metrics that suit a broad spectrum of enterprise applications. Endurance is expressed in drive writes per day (DWPD) and total terabytes written (TBW) over the warranty period; these metrics reflect the drive’s capability to sustain regular write activity without premature wear. For deployments that include swap-intensive virtual machines, logging, or caching, the MU-3 endurance profile offers a balanced trade-off between cost and lifecycle expectations.

Power-Loss Protection and Data Integrity

Data integrity is a paramount consideration in enterprise SSDs. The HPE 822553-B21 often includes power-loss protection features and end-to-end data path protection to reduce the risk of incomplete write operations in the event of sudden power failures. Coupled with strong ECC (error-correcting code) mechanisms and firmware routines designed to recover and correct bit errors, these drives help protect stored data and reduce the chances of data corruption during anomalous events.

Compatibility, Validation, and HPE Ecosystem Integration

HPE System Compatibility and Firmware Support

Choosing an HPE-branded drive like the 822553-B21 simplifies compatibility concerns because it is validated against HPE ProLiant server models and certain HPE storage arrays. Firmware releases for HPE drives may be distributed through HPE support channels, enabling administrators to obtain tested and certified updates that maintain interoperability with HPE controllers and management tools. This integration reduces the operational burden of cross-vendor firmware management and streamlines support interactions when leveraging HPE warranties and services.

Interoperability with RAID Controllers and HBAs

The SAS 12Gbps interface ensures that the drive interoperates with a broad set of enterprise RAID controllers and host bus adapters. Whether used behind an HPE Smart Array controller, a third-party SAS RAID card, or a direct-attach controller in storage shelves, the drive’s enterprise-grade firmware negotiates effectively with controller-level features such as TRIM-like commands, SCSI translation layers, and vendor-specific monitoring tools. Administrators should consult HPE compatibility matrices to confirm qualified controller and backplane pairings for their particular server generation.

Use Cases and Deployment Scenarios

Virtualization and VDI Environments

Virtualized environments benefit from the low-latency, consistent IOPS of the HPE 822553-B21. In VDI deployments where many virtual desktops generate concurrent random read/write patterns, mixed-use SSDs reduce boot storms and improve application responsiveness. Using these drives as primary VM datastores or as caching tiers in a hybrid storage architecture accelerates I/O-bound operations and enhances end-user experience.

Databases, Transactional Applications, and Logging

Databases and transaction-heavy systems often need a storage layer that can handle sustained random writes and rapid reads without performance cliffs. The MU-3 400GB SSD provides lower latencies and more predictable write behavior than HDDs, reducing transaction commit times and improving query responsiveness. Log-intensive applications such as event collectors and analytics ingestion engines also benefit from the drive’s endurance profiling and write performance tuning.

Boot and Operating System Volumes

Because the HPE 822553-B21 delivers fast read access and reliable startup behavior, organizations commonly deploy these 400GB SSDs as boot volumes for servers hosting latency-sensitive services. Rapid boot times, consistent firmware behavior, and reduced failure rates compared with mechanical drives make SSDs a preferred choice for primary OS volumes in production systems.