DELL PowerEdge R740xd 12 Bay 3.5" 2U rack server 2x Xeon Gold 6142 2.6GHz 16 Core 256GB DDR4 H730P 12x 6TB HDD

12-Bay 2U Storage Server

The Dell PowerEdge R740xd is a 2U rack server built for storage-dense workloads. It ships with twelve 3.5-inch drive bays populated by 6 TB 7.2K SATA hard drives and a PERC H730P RAID controller with 2 GB cache. Dual Xeon Gold 6142 processors provide 32 total cores at 2.6 GHz with 3.7 GHz turbo, backed by 256 GB of DDR4-2666 ECC memory across eight 32 GB modules.

Suits Dense Capacity Needs; Not for All-Flash Speed

This configuration suits teams that need high raw capacity in a compact rack footprint for software-defined storage, backup targets or virtual desktop infrastructure. The 7.2K SATA drives deliver throughput appropriate for sequential and capacity-oriented workloads. Buyers who need low-latency random I/O or all-flash performance should look at a different storage tier.

12-Bay 3.5-Inch Chassis Decides Fit

The defining constraint is the twelve-bay 3.5-inch front panel that sets the maximum drive count and physical drive form factor. This chassis cannot accept 2.5-inch drives without a separate carrier kit, and it cannot expand beyond twelve drives internally. Confirm the bay count and drive form factor match the planned storage topology before ordering.