HP xw4600 xw4600 manual Drives, Chassis Design

HP recommends Windows Vista® Business

Drives

Is the floppy drive really optional on the HP xw4600?

Yes. For ultimate price flexibility and/or security concerns, we now offer systems with or without the floppy drive. With the advancement of technologies like USB disk keys, bootable CD-ROMs/CD-RWs, external storage, etc., the necessity of a floppy drive has really declined over the past few years and many customers simply don’t need them anymore. We offer the flexibility should you decide it is not needed on your HP xw4600.

Does HP offer any other removable storage options?

Yes. HP offers an optional 16-in-1 Media Card reader that can be factory-installed on the xw4600. This device will enable users to quickly and easily transfer data between their workstation and their flash media (Compact Flash, Smart Media, etc). This device will occupy the bottom optical bay in the xw4600.

Is the optical drive optional on the HP xw4600?

Yes. Once again, for the ultimate in price flexibility and because of security concerns, we now offer systems with or without an optical drive. Microsoft® has lifted a requirement that forced the integration of an optical device on previous systems, so this is now possible for the first time on the HP xw4600.

What optical drives are available with the

The following table outlines what optical drives are currently available and what software is bundled with each drive.

HP xw4600? What software is bundled with these drives?

	2007 optical apps set
	• Support on Windows XP 32-bit,
	Vista Business 32-bit, Vista Business 64-bit
	• CTO, apps are preinstalled
Create data & music CDs/DVDs	• Roxio Easy Media Creator 9
Create video CDs/DVDs	• Roxio Easy Media Creator 9
Play DVDs and video files	• WinDVD Player 5
Back up files or entire system	• HP Backup and Recovery (SoftThinks)

DVD-ROM (SATA)

DVD/CD-RW combo (SATA)

DVD+/-RW Double Layer SuperMulti* (SATA)

*Actual speeds may vary. Does not permit copying of commercially available DVD movies or other copyright protected materials. Intended for creation and storage of your original material and other lawful uses. Doublelayer discs can store more data than single-layer discs. However, double-layer discs burned with this drive may not be compatible with many existing single-layer DVD drives and players. LightScribe creates a monochrome image. LightScribe media required and sold separately. Note that DVD-ROM cannot read or write to 2.6 GB Single-Sided/5.2 GB Double-Sided—Version 1.0 media.

Does the HP xw4600 offer and support SATA 3.0 Gb/s hard drives?

Yes. The HP xw4600 has an integrated 6-channel SATA 3.0 Gb/s controller for Serial ATA hard drives and optical drives. We offer the following SATA 3.0 Gb/s hard drives: 80 GB, 160 GB, 250 GB, 500 GB, and 1 TB (7200 rpm), as well as 80 and 160 GB (10k rpm). As noted above, we offer SATA versions of DVD-ROM (SATA), DVD/CD-RW Combo (SATA), and Supermulti DVD +/-RW Double Layer SuperMulti (SATA) optical drives. We also offer a full selection of SAS hard drives.

Does the HP xw4600 support Serial ATA (SATA) RAID?

Yes. The chipset used on the HP xw4600 has an integrated 6-channel SATA controller with Native Command Queuing (NCQ) and RAID support for RAID 0 (striped), RAID 1 (mirrored), RAID 5 (parity), and RAID 10 (striped and mirrored). You can choose to have a high performance RAID 0 array of hard drives where data is striped across multiple hard drives (this RAID method greatly improves data access times and system performance). You can choose to have a highly reliable RAID 1 array of hard drives, where data is duplicated to multiple hard drives at once (this RAID method creates a backup copy of all your data in real time). You can choose to implement a RAID 5 array, which protects against data loss and provides faster throughput. Data is distributed across at least two hard disks, with error correction information stored on an additional disk. Finally, you can choose to implement a RAID 10 array, which offers the advantages of RAID 0 and RAID 1 by utilizing four hard disks..

What is the value of Native Command Queuing or NCQ?

NCQ is a performance enhancement for SATA hard drives. NCQ reorganizes read/write commands in such a way that they can be executed in a more efficient manner than typical synchronous execution. NCQ performance improvement is highly dependent on the type of application and load, but can be as high as 20%.

What serial attached SCSI drives and controllers are offered on the HP xw4600?

We offer a wide selection of SAS disk drives and controllers. The faster spindle speeds (15K rpm) and the high bandwidth controllers (3.0 Gb/s) result in very fast access to your data. We offer two different PCI SAS controllers: an entry

4-channel SAS controller with basic hard drive connectivity/control and RAID functionality, and a full-featured 8-channel SAS controller with an external connector and comprehensive RAID functionality. We offer the following SAS drives:

73 GB/15K, 146 GB/15K, 300 GB/15K rpm.

Chassis Design

Is the chassis for the

HP xw4600 the same chassis used on the HP xw4400? Is it still convertible?

Yes. The HP xw4600 uses the same highly engineered chassis as the HP xw4400. The HP xw4600 is housed in an intelligently designed chassis with tool-less access for ease of servicing, upgrading and maintenance. It is still convertible from a desktop orientation to a minitower orientation. The HP xw4600 is rackable and shelving kits are available.

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