The value SAN with years of life left
The PowerVault ME4 was Dell’s entry SAN from 2018 until the ME5 took over in 2022. It pairs two active controllers with ADAPT distributed RAID and 16Gb Fibre Channel, 10Gb iSCSI or 12Gb SAS, scaling to 4 PB across the ME4012, ME4024 and ME4084 — the same simple, resilient platform that made PowerVault a default choice for SMB and mid-market block storage.
Because it’s a generation behind, the ME4 is the prime refurbished PowerVault: deep secondary supply, low pricing, Dell support to roughly 2029, and third-party maintenance beyond. For steady production, DR and backup-target roles it’s the value play — and it replicates to a new ME5 when you’re ready to refresh.
Where the ME4 sits today
Past end-of-sale but well inside its support life — the sweet spot for cheap, re-certified hardware backed by Dell support and third-party maintenance.
EOSL date is from third-party EOL trackers — confirm the current date for a specific model with Dell or with us.
ME4 specifications
Controllers & cache
- ›Two hot-swap, dual-active controllers (single- or dual-controller on the 2U models)
- ›Intel dual-core 2.2 GHz processor per controller
- ›8 GB cache per controller (16 GB total per array)
- ›Mirrored write cache with controller failover
Host connectivity (up to 8 ports/array)
- ›16 Gb Fibre Channel (auto-negotiates to 8 Gb)
- ›10 Gb iSCSI — SFP+ optical or 10GBASE-T (down to 1 Gb)
- ›12 Gb SAS direct-attach (DAS)
- ›Multiprotocol option: 4× 16 Gb FC + 4× 10 Gb iSCSI
RAID & data services
- ›RAID 0, 1, 5, 6, 10, 50 and ADAPT distributed erasure coding
- ›Thin provisioning, up to 3 auto-tiering media tiers
- ›Up to 1,024 snapshots per array; volume copy
- ›Asynchronous replication (ME4↔ME4); the newer ME5 adds ME4↔ME5 cross-gen replication
Drives & encryption
- ›SSD (480/960 GB, 1.92 TB), 10K SAS (1.2/1.8/2.4 TB), 15K SAS (900 GB), NL-SAS 7.2K (4–12 TB)
- ›Self-encrypting drives with AES-256 full-disk encryption
- ›FIPS 140-2 Level 2-certified drive options
- ›ME412 / ME424 / ME484 expansion enclosures over 12 Gb SAS
Dual-active controllers
Dell PowerVault ME4 — FAQs
What is the Dell PowerVault ME4?
The ME4 (launched 2018) is the previous-generation Dell entry SAN/DAS array — ME4012 (2U/12 LFF), ME4024 (2U/24 SFF) and ME4084 (5U/84 LFF). It uses dual-active controllers, ADAPT distributed RAID and a choice of 16Gb Fibre Channel, 10Gb iSCSI or 12Gb SAS, scaling to 4 PB raw. It was superseded by the ME5 in 2022 but remains supported and is the prime refurbished PowerVault buy.
Is the Dell PowerVault ME4 still supported?
Yes — Dell continues to support the ME4, and third-party EOL trackers place its End of Service Life (EOSL) around 2029. That long remaining support runway, combined with low refurbished pricing, makes the ME4 a sensible budget choice; confirm the exact EOSL for your model with Dell or with us before relying on it.
ME4 vs ME5 — what changed?
The ME5 (2022) roughly doubles the ME4’s IOPS, moves Fibre Channel from 16Gb to 32Gb and iSCSI from 10Gb to 25Gb, doubles controller memory to 24 GB total, scales to ~8 PB and adds the 7.68 TB SSD tier. The ME4 keeps RAID 0/50 (dropped on ME5) and 15K SAS HDDs. If you want maximum performance and runway, choose ME5; for best value, refurbished ME4. See the ME5 page for the full comparison.
Why buy a refurbished ME4 instead of a new ME5?
For steady virtualisation, file, backup-target and DR workloads the ME4 is more than enough, at a fraction of new-ME5 cost — and with support to ~2029 plus third-party maintenance beyond, it has plenty of life left. We’ll advise honestly on when refurbished ME4 fits versus new ME5.
Can an ME4 replicate to an ME5?
Yes — the ME5 added cross-generation asynchronous replication, so an existing ME4 can replicate to a new ME5 (ME4↔ME5). That makes staged upgrades and DR between an ME4 fleet and new ME5 arrays straightforward.
Does the ME4 support encryption?
Yes — self-encrypting SSD and HDD with AES-256 full-disk encryption and FIPS 140-2 Level 2-certified drive options, with key management inside the array controllers.
Can Servnet supply, configure and support the ME4 in the UK?
Yes — Servnet is a Dell partner. We supply refurbished and new ME4 arrays, size the drives and connectivity, add ME484 expansion, and support them UK-wide — plus third-party maintenance options for end-of-support hardware. Contact sales@servnetuk.com or 0800 987 4111.
New or refurbished ME4 — sized for you
Tell us the workload and capacity — we’ll spec the model, drives and connectivity, advise on ME4 refurbished vs new ME5, and quote it with UK delivery, support and third-party-maintenance options.
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