P68848-001 HPE ZWS4106 24TB 7.2K SAS 12GBPS LFF Hard Drive

Overview of the P68848-001 HPE ZWS4106 24TB 7.2K SAS 12Gbps LFF Hard Drive

The P68848-001 HPE ZWS4106 is a robust 24TB 7.2K SAS 12Gbps Business Critical LFF 512e hard drive built to support enterprise-scale storage systems. Designed by Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), this high-capacity drive provides a perfect balance of capacity, speed, and reliability for data-intensive workloads. With a rotational speed of 7200 RPM and a SAS (Serial Attached SCSI) interface, it enables scalable performance ideal for storage arrays, data centers, and high-availability IT infrastructures.

Enterprise-Class Storage Solutions for Critical Business Needs

Business-critical environments demand uninterrupted performance and storage scalability. The HPE P68848-001 is engineered to address these demands by offering large-scale storage with enterprise-grade reliability. Whether it is for backup and archiving, high-density storage arrays, or streaming workloads, this 24TB drive meets the diverse requirements of enterprise IT operations.

Designed for Mission-Critical Applications

Enterprise businesses often require 24/7 uptime and seamless data access. The P68848-001 drive supports mission-critical applications through advanced error correction algorithms, vibration resistance, and superior MTBF ratings. With 12Gbps SAS connectivity, it ensures data is transferred with minimal latency and maximum throughput.

Use Cases in High-Density Storage Environments

• Backup and recovery for enterprise databases
• Cold and warm storage in hybrid data centers
• Data lakes and massive-scale archival solutions
• Video surveillance storage systems
• Virtualized environments requiring high capacity

Key Features of the HPE ZWS4106 24TB 7.2K SAS Drive

The ZWS4106 model incorporates advanced features that distinguish it from traditional SATA hard drives. Designed for seamless integration with HPE ProLiant and Apollo servers, it offers the following standout benefits:

Massive 24TB Storage Capacity

With a generous 24 terabyte capacity, this LFF (Large Form Factor) drive supports large datasets and long-term data retention strategies. It is ideal for organizations managing data-intensive workloads such as analytics, video storage, and real-time processing.

7200 RPM Spindle Speed

The 7.2K RPM rotational speed balances performance and energy efficiency. It provides enough throughput to support sequential workloads, making it a popular choice for tiered storage architectures and disk-based backup systems.

12Gbps SAS Interface for High-Speed Data Transfer

The Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) 12Gbps interface allows for faster, more reliable data transfers compared to SATA alternatives. This enables quicker access to stored information, faster backups, and reduced system bottlenecks during peak data loads.

512e Sector Format

Using a 512e (512-byte emulation) format, the drive achieves better compatibility with legacy systems while leveraging the advantages of Advanced Format drives. It balances modern storage demands with backward compatibility.

Compatibility with HPE Smart Carrier

The drive features a hot-swappable HPE Smart Carrier, making it easy to install and remove from server bays without downtime. The Smart Carrier includes LED indicators for drive activity and health, providing visual cues to technicians.

Benefits of Using SAS Drives over SATA in Enterprise Environments

SAS drives like the P68848-001 outperform SATA drives in nearly every enterprise-relevant category, including speed, reliability, and scalability. With dual-port architecture, SAS drives ensure redundancy and allow for high-availability configurations in SAN and RAID environments.

Enhanced Error Detection and Correction

SAS protocols include superior error detection and correction mechanisms compared to SATA, which is crucial in enterprise settings where data integrity is paramount.

Dual-Port Redundancy

Unlike SATA drives, SAS drives provide dual-port access, which enhances redundancy and allows for failover protection. This is ideal for high-availability clusters and storage systems.

Faster Signal Transmission

The 12Gbps data rate of the SAS interface allows the drive to maintain high throughput even when working with thousands of I/O operations per second, making it an excellent choice for demanding applications such as database hosting and transaction processing.

Optimized for HPE Server and Storage Ecosystems

HPE hard drives like the ZWS4106 are engineered to seamlessly integrate with HPE server ecosystems including the ProLiant DL and ML series, Synergy systems, and Apollo high-density storage nodes. These drives undergo rigorous testing for compatibility, performance, and reliability.

Certified Compatibility with HPE RAID Controllers

The drive works flawlessly with HPE Smart Array RAID controllers, enabling advanced RAID levels for redundancy, performance, or a balance of both. This ensures peace of mind when deploying storage in mission-critical environments.

Firmware Optimization

HPE’s proprietary firmware is fine-tuned for their server environments, allowing the drive to operate more efficiently and predictably under various workload scenarios. HPE firmware updates ensure better integration, stability, and security over time.

Durability and Data Protection Technologies

The P68848-001 is engineered for long life and maximum reliability. It includes mechanical, electrical, and thermal design features that reduce the likelihood of failures, making it suitable for use in continuous, high-demand applications.

Mean Time Between Failures (MTBF)

This HPE drive boasts an enterprise-grade MTBF rating, typically over 2 million hours, ensuring long-term durability and minimal drive replacement frequency, even in 24x7 operations.

Rotational Vibration Safeguards

Designed with advanced rotational vibration sensors, the drive can detect and compensate for vibrations in densely packed environments like rack-mounted servers, preserving performance and preventing write/read degradation.

Power Loss Data Protection

While SAS HDDs generally rely on external solutions for power loss protection, HPE’s integration with Smart Array controllers and RAID cache modules helps ensure data integrity during power failures.

Data Center Applications for the P68848-001 HPE ZWS4106

This drive is optimized for the following enterprise and cloud infrastructure use cases:

• Archival storage for legal, compliance, or historical datasets
• Streaming and media workloads requiring high sequential write speeds
• Backup-to-disk systems with deduplication and replication features
• Data lakes supporting AI and ML model training
• Log retention and security event storage in SIEM systems

Supporting Virtualization Platforms

The drive provides ample performance to support virtualization workloads on platforms like VMware, Hyper-V, and Citrix XenServer. Its capacity and SAS speed are suitable for hosting multiple VMs in storage-constrained environments.

Lower Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)

By consolidating storage into fewer high-capacity drives, organizations can reduce power, cooling, and rack space requirements—resulting in a reduced total cost of ownership and improved sustainability in the data center.

Environmental and Energy Efficiency Considerations

The P68848-001 is designed to align with modern environmental standards, including RoHS compliance and low power idle modes. With intelligent firmware-level energy management, this drive can optimize performance while minimizing energy draw.

Power Draw and Idle Consumption

The 7.2K RPM configuration helps reduce power consumption compared to faster 10K or 15K drives, while still offering acceptable performance for general-purpose applications.

Thermal Efficiency and Cooling Requirements

Built to operate within standard data center environmental conditions, the drive includes optimized airflow architecture that reduces the need for excessive active cooling, contributing to overall system thermal efficiency.

P68848-001 HPE SAS 24TB Drive

Choosing the P68848-001 for your data infrastructure brings several advantages, from trusted HPE engineering to broad compatibility and superior long-term reliability. It is ideal for organizations scaling their on-premise storage or hybrid cloud architectures.

Vendor Reliability

Hewlett Packard Enterprise is a leading provider of enterprise-grade storage technologies. By choosing an HPE-certified drive, customers gain access to robust support ecosystems and firmware that is fine-tuned for reliability and performance.

Long Lifecycle and Availability

HPE enterprise drives tend to have longer product lifecycles and predictable firmware and security patch support—critical for enterprise planning and procurement teams.