topic AFF support for regular HDD in AFF

AFF support for regular HDD

makruger — Wed, 04 Jun 2025 09:47:36 GMT

I have read that AFF systems do not support regular hard drives. Presumably this also means you can't add a 2nd disk shelf and expect it to support regular HDD's. It too would only support SSD's.

Just looking for some confirmation on this.

Thanks!

Re: AFF support for regular HDD

Ontapforrum — Thu, 15 Jun 2023 20:49:55 GMT

Yes, your understanding is correct.

Only SSD drives are supported on AFF platforms. If non-SSD drives are attached to an AFF platform, the disks do not go online. If the root aggregate is HDD-based, the nodes do not boot.

Re: AFF support for regular HDD

TMACMD — Fri, 16 Jun 2023 02:33:22 GMT

The code to utilize spinning media is bypassed to help with performance…code streamlining if you will.
No spinners on any AFF

Re: AFF support for regular HDD

EWILTS_SAS — Fri, 16 Jun 2023 20:12:00 GMT

If you want a filer with a mix of SSD and spinners, get a FAS. We've had no problems mixing and matching...