Dell PowerVault ME5 SAN

The ME5 is Dell’s current entry-level SAN/DAS block-storage array, launched in February 2022. It comes in three models — ME5012 (2U, 12 LFF), ME5024 (2U, 24 SFF) and ME5084 (5U, 84 LFF) — with dual-active controllers, ADAPT distributed RAID, and a choice of Fibre Channel, iSCSI or SAS connectivity. It delivers up to 640,000 IOPS and 12 GB/s of read throughput and scales to 7.39 PB raw.

Dell publishes up to 640,000 IOPS, 12 GB/s sequential read and 10 GB/s sequential write for the ME5 — roughly double the previous ME4 generation. (You may see a higher third-party "840K" figure; the Dell-published number is 640,000.)

They share the same controllers, software and performance; the difference is the chassis. The ME5012 is a 2U, 12-bay 3.5" enclosure (capacity-led); the ME5024 is a 2U, 24-bay 2.5" enclosure (performance / all-flash); the ME5084 is a 5U, 84-bay 3.5" enclosure for maximum density. All expand with ME484 enclosures to 264 / 276 / 336 drives respectively.

Up to 5.80 PB (ME5012), 5.72 PB (ME5024) or 7.39 PB raw (ME5084) using ME484 expansion enclosures. Dell rounds the top of the range to "up to 8 PB"; 7.39 PB is the highest validated single-model figure.

ADAPT is Dell’s distributed erasure-coding RAID. It spreads data, parity and spare capacity across every drive in the pool rather than dedicating whole drives to parity and a hot spare. A drive failure rebuilds in parallel across all drives — far faster than a traditional RAID 5/6 rebuild — and leaves more usable capacity. You can still use classic RAID 1/5/6/10 alongside it.

Yes — the ME5 supports self-encrypting SSD and HDD with AES-256 full-disk encryption and FIPS 140-2 Level 2-certified drives, with key management handled inside the array controllers.

Yes — the ME5 adds cross-generation asynchronous replication, so it can replicate ME4↔ME5 as well as ME5↔ME5 (the ME4 only replicated to other ME4s). That makes staged upgrades and DR between an existing ME4 fleet and new ME5 arrays straightforward.

Both are excellent dual-controller entry SANs. The ME5 leads on headline IOPS and adds ADAPT erasure coding; the HPE MSA Gen7 (2070/2072) is its closest rival. We’re partners for both, so we’ll recommend on merit for your workload — see our dedicated MSA vs PowerVault ME5 comparison.

Yes — Servnet is a Dell partner. We size capacity, IOPS and connectivity, choose the model and drive mix, supply ME484 expansion and SFPs, and deliver and support UK-wide — new or refurbished. Contact sales@servnetuk.com or 0800 987 4111.