Intel 2U Hot Swap 8x2.5inch SAS/NVMe Combo Drive Bay Kit

Overview

The Intel A2U8X25S3PHS is a 2U hot swap drive bay kit designed to expand storage capacity in servers by accommodating eight 2.5-inch drives. It supports SAS, SATA, and NVMe interfaces, allowing a flexible combination of high-capacity hard drives and fast solid-state drives within a single module. This kit is ideal for environments that require scalable storage solutions without downtime, such as virtualization clusters, high-performance computing, and edge appliances.

Key features

• Supports hot swapping, enabling drive replacement or upgrades without shutting down the server.
• Compatible with SAS, SATA, and NVMe drives, allowing a tailored mix of storage types to match workload demands.
• Includes all necessary components for installation: hot swap assembly, backplane, drive carriers, drive blanks, and I2C jumper cables.
• Backplane manages multiple interface types simultaneously, simplifying storage configuration.
• Designed for 2U server chassis with 2.5-inch bays, requiring no additional brackets or tools for installation.
• Enables up to 80 TB of raw storage capacity depending on the drives used.
• Compact design fits well in dense rack environments where maximizing drive slots is critical.

Key specs

• Drive capacity: 8 x 2.5-inch bays
• Supported interfaces: SAS, SATA, NVMe
• Form factor: 2U chassis compatible
• Included cables: 75 mm I2C jumper cables for system management bus connection
• Maximum raw storage: up to 80 TB (dependent on installed drives)
• Installation: front-mounted, tool-less for compatible chassis

Connectivity and compatibility

The kit’s backplane supports simultaneous SAS, SATA, and NVMe drives, providing flexibility to configure storage arrays that balance speed and capacity. It requires separate data and PCIe OCuLink cables to connect the drives to the server motherboard, allowing integration with a wide range of server architectures. This makes it a versatile choice for IT administrators managing diverse storage needs.

Installation and setup

Installation is straightforward with the included hot swap assembly and drive carriers, designed to fit directly into 2U server chassis with 2.5-inch bays. The kit comes with drive blanks to cover unused bays, maintaining airflow and system integrity. The 75 mm I2C jumper cables link the backplane to the system management bus, enabling monitoring and control without additional hardware.

Ideal uses and environments

This drive bay kit suits data centers and enterprise environments where uptime and scalability are priorities. It works well for virtualization hosts, compute nodes requiring fast storage access, and edge devices needing a balance of capacity and speed. The ability to hot swap drives reduces maintenance windows, making it a strong option for setups that cannot afford downtime.