Used and Refurbished Dell PowerVault ME5212

ME5 Series Storage Array | 2U Rack
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The PowerVault ME5212 is a 2U storage array with 12 x 3.5-inch drive bays, with support for 2.5-inch drive carriers, and is part of Dell's ME5200 Series of SAN and DAS storage platforms. Designed for SMB through enterprise environments that need straightforward, scalable block storage, the ME5212 combines flexible FC, iSCSI, and SAS connectivity with all-flash, hybrid flash, or HDD configurations. The platform supports dual-active controllers, with 24G of memory per controller, and uses a 12Gb SAS backend for storage expansion.

The ME5212 starts with 12 internal drive bays and can scale from 2 to 264 drives. It supports up to nine ME512 or ME524 2U expansion enclosures, or up to three dense ME584 5U expansion enclosures, with Dell listing maximum raw capacity of up to 5.80PB when configured with three ME584 enclosures. Built-in ME5 software includes auto-tiering, ADAPT RAID, thin provisioning, snapshots, asynchronous replication, volume copy, data-at-rest encryption, and PowerVault Manager administration.

PowerVault ME5212 Technical Specifications

Chassis Format:
 All-in-one: dual controllers, internal drive bays, networking and with expansion options
Rack Size:
 2U or 5U
Controllers:
 2 hot-swappable per chassis (dual-active)
Single/dual controller support for 2U models
Dual controller support only for 5U model
Processor:
 Intel® Xeon Processor
Internal Storage:
 ME5212: 12 x 3.5” drive bays (2.5” drive carriers supported)
ME5224: 24 x 2.5” drive bays
ME5284: 84 x 3.5” drive bays (2.5” drive carriers supported)
System Memory:
 24G per controller, 48G total on a dual controller system
Expansion:
 Enclosures:
ME512: 12 x 3.5” drive bays (12Gb SAS)
ME524: 24 x 2.5” drive bays (12Gb SAS)
ME584: 84 x 3.5” drive bays (12Gb SAS)
Min/Max Drive Count:
 ME5212: 2/264
ME5224: 2/276
ME5284: 28/336
Max Raw Capacity:
 ME5212: Up to 2.64PB (total with 9 ME512)
ME5212: Up to 1.92PB (total with 9 ME524)
ME5212: Up to 5.80PB (total with 3 ME584)
ME5224: Up to 2.56PB (total with 9 ME512)
ME5224: Up to 1.83PB (total with 9 ME524)
ME5224: Up to 5.72PB (total with 3 ME584)
ME5284: Up to 7.39PB (total with 3 ME584)
ME5284: Up to 5.54PB (total with 2 ME584)
Storage Media:
 SAS and NL-SAS drives; different drive types, transfer rates, and rotational speeds can be mixed in the same system:
• NLSAS 7.2K 3.5” – 4TB, 8TB, 8TB FIPS, 12TB, 16TB, 16TB FIPS, 20TB, 24TB
• SAS 10K 2.5” – 1.2TB, 2.4TB, 2.4TB FIPS
• SSD – 1.6TB MU, 1.92TB RI, 3.84TB RI, 3.2TB FIPS MU, 7.68TB RI
Network and Expansion I/O:
 Host Interface: FC, iSCSI (optical or BaseT), SAS
Max 32Gb FC ports: 8 per array (support auto-negotiate to 16Gb)
Max 25Gb iSCSI ports: 8 SFP+ or SFP28 ports per array
Max 10Gb iSCSI ports: 8 BaseT ports per array (only support auto negotiate to 1Gb)
Max 12Gb SAS ports: 8 12Gb SAS ports
Max management ports: 2 per array (1Gb BASE-T)
Disk expansion protocol: 12Gb SAS
Disk interface expansion ports:
2 x 12Gb SAS (wide-Port) per array (1 port per controller)
Up to 9 2U expansion enclosures per 2U base array
Up to 3 5U expansion enclosures per 2U base array
Up to 3 5U expansion enclosures per 5U base array
Functional:
 Array configurations: All-flash, hybrid flash, HDD only arrays
Storage format: Native block-level SAN or DAS
Data Optimization:
 Auto-tiering: Up to 3 primary (media-based) tiers
RAID support: RAID 1, 5, 6, 10, or ADAPT RAID; any combination of RAID levels can exist in single array
ADAPT RAID: Distributed erasure coding that reduces rebuild times when drive failures occur
Thin provisioning: Active by default on all volumes, operates at full performance across all features
Snapshots: 1024 maximum re-direct-on-write snapshots per array
Data Mobility and Migration:
 Replication: Asynchronous replication via FC or iSCSI – replication is supported between ME50XX and ME52XX or between ME52XX and ME50XX. Target/source relationships may be one-to-many or many-to-one
Volume copy: Copy complete standalone volumes
Data Protection, Disaster Recovery, Security:
 Business continuity: VMware Site Recovery Manager
Data-at-rest encryption:
Self-encrypting drives (SEDs) in SSD or HDD formats
Full Disk Encryption (FDE) based on AES-256
Drives certified to FIPS 140-3 Level 2
Key manager: Internal controller key management
KMIP (Key Management Interoperability Protocol) enablement/support. IBM SKLM and Thales KeySecure are available at launch with the potential to add more after RTS.
Management:
 Management support: PowerVault Manager HTML5 GUI element manager, CLI, OpenManage Enterprise
VMware vCenter: VMware vCenter plugin to manage ME5 arrays through vCenter
Scripting: CLI API, Redfish/Swordfish REST API
Supported host OS:
Windows 2025 (including Hyper-V), Windows 2022 (including Hyper-V)
RHEL 9.5, 8.10
SLES 15 SP6, SLES 12 SP8
VMware 9.0, VMware 8.0 U3
Virtualization integration:
VMware vSphere (ESXi)
vCenter; SRM
Microsoft Hyper-V
Physical Base System:
 Rack size
ME5212: 2U
ME5224: 2U
ME5284: 5U

Base system height
ME5212: 8.79 cm (3.46 inches)
ME5224: 8.79 cm (3.46 inches)
ME5284: 22.23 cm (8.75 inches)

Base system width
ME5212: 48.30 cm (19.01 inches)
ME5224: 48.30 cm (19.01 inches)
ME5284: 48.30 cm (19.01 inches)

Base system depth
ME5212: 24.36 inches
ME5224: 21.56 inches
ME5284: 38.62 inches

Weight (max configuration)
ME5212: 32.00 kg (71.00 lbs)
ME5224: 30.00 kg (66.00 lbs)
ME5284: 135.00 kg (298.00 lbs)

Weight (empty)
ME5212: 4.80 kg (10.56 lbs) without drives
ME5224: 4.80 kg (10.56 lbs) without drives
ME5284: 64.00 kg (141.00 lbs) without drives
Physical Expansion Enclosure:
 Rack size
ME512: 2U
ME524: 2U
ME584: 5U

Expansion height
ME512: 8.79 cm (3.46 inches)
ME524: 8.79 cm (3.46 inches)
ME584: 22.23 cm (8.75 inches)

Expansion width
ME512: 48.30 cm (19.01 inches)
ME524: 48.30 cm (19.01 inches)
ME584: 48.30 cm (19.01 inches)

Expansion depth
ME512: 60.29 cm (23.74 inches)
ME524: 60.29 cm (23.74 inches)
ME584: 97.47 cm (38.31 inches)

Weight (max configuration)
ME512: 28.00 kg (62.00 lbs)
ME524: 25.00 kg (55.00 lbs)
ME584: 130.00 kg (287.00 lbs)

Weight (empty)
ME512: 4.80 kg (10.56 lbs) without drives
ME524: 4.80 kg (10.56 lbs) without drives
ME584: 64.00 kg (141.00 lbs) without drives
Base System Power:
 Power/wattage
ME5212: 580W, 764W DC
ME5224: 580W, 764W DC
ME5284: 2200W

Heat dissipation
ME5212: 1980 BTU
ME5224: 1980 BTU
ME5284: 7507 BTU
Expansion Power:
 Power/wattage
ME512: 580W
ME524: 580W
ME584: 2200W

Heat dissipation
ME512: 1980 BTU
ME524: 1980 BTU
ME584: 7507 BTU

Voltage
ME512: 100-240 VAC
ME524: 100-240 VAC
ME584: 200-240 VAC

Frequency: 50/60 Hz

Amperage
ME512: 7.6-3.0A (x2)
ME524: 7.6-3.0A (x2)
ME584: 11.07-9.23A (x2)
Environmental Operating Conditions:
 Operating temperature: 5°C - 35°C (41°F - 95°F, derated by 1°C per 300mm above 900m)
Non-operating temperature: -40°C to 70°C (-40°F to 158°F); maximum temperature change in an hour: 20°C
Operating humidity ranges (non-condensing): -12°C dew point minimum, 8% to 85% maximum, non-condensing
Non-operating humidity (non-condensing): 21°C dew point maximum, 5% to 100% maximum, non-condensing
Service & Warranty:
 Services: Dell ProSupport Enterprise Suite and Dell ProDeploy Enterprise Suite. Optional ProSupport Plus is available offering proactive and preventative services to improve performance and stability.
System sizing: Dell Power Sizer