Try our new research platform with insights from 80,000+ expert users
IT Coordinator at HMY
Real User
Easy to use and manage, good support, and reasonably-priced
Pros and Cons
  • "The most valuable feature of this solution is that it is easy to manage and easy to use."
  • "In the next release, I would like the deduplication and compression included, as well as the flash technology. It doesn't currently use it."

What is our primary use case?

The primary use case of this solution is for local software, which we use for the production of local ERPs that we use on-premises.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable feature of this solution is that it is easy to manage and easy to use.

What needs improvement?

Deduplication and compression is an area that needs development. This is currently not on the device.

In the next release, I would like the deduplication and compression included, as well as the flash technology. It doesn't currently use it.

For how long have I used the solution?

We have been using this solution since February 2014. It's been more than six years.

Buyer's Guide
Dell PowerVault
November 2024
Learn what your peers think about Dell PowerVault. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: November 2024.
816,636 professionals have used our research since 2012.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

We have not had any issues, but I cannot say that it is very secure. We do not use any security protocols, but we have not had any issues with security.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The scalability is not flexible.

We have approximately 150 users, who are using this solution in our organization.

How are customer service and support?

We are satisfied with technical support.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was easy and straightforward. 

It's made by the technicians, which made it easy.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The price is reasonable and we are satisfied with it.

What other advice do I have?

I could not recommend this solution to others, because the technology is old. There are other Dell models that I would recommend, but not this one.

I would rate Dell EMC PowerVault an eight out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Systems Engineer at A3 Infotech
Real User
Top 20Leaderboard
A cost-effective solution for small businesses
Pros and Cons
  • "I like the tool's CloudIQ feature."
  • "If the solution came with a synchronous application, it would be particularly advantageous for small businesses operating across multiple sites."

What is our primary use case?

We use the solution for internal and external ERP.

What is most valuable?

I like the tool's CloudIQ feature.

What needs improvement?

If the solution came with a synchronous application, it would be particularly advantageous for small businesses operating across multiple sites.

For how long have I used the solution?

We have been using the solution since the early 2000s.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The solution is stable. I rate it a ten on ten.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The solution is scalable. I rate it a ten on ten.

How are customer service and support?

We haven't used technical support for assistance. It has been running smoothly for several years now.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was straightforward.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The solution is more cost-effective than the competitors. It’s an affordable option for small businesses.


What other advice do I have?

Overall, I rate Dell PowerVault a ten on ten.


Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer:
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Dell PowerVault
November 2024
Learn what your peers think about Dell PowerVault. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: November 2024.
816,636 professionals have used our research since 2012.
it_user159420 - PeerSpot reviewer
Founder / Lead Network Consultant with 51-200 employees
Vendor
Needs to allow for larger drive sizes but gives us us the ability to have longer term storage for our customers.

Valuable Features

Expandability is the most important feature for us.

Improvements to My Organization

The MD3260 has given us the ability to have longer term storage for our customers and a reasonable price.

Room for Improvement

The MD3220i needs to allow for larger drive sizes.

Use of Solution

We have owned the MD3220i for about 2 years so far and we are new to the MD3260 only owning it for about 2 months.

Deployment Issues

The only issue during deployment is that Dell has different ways of installing different SANs. We would like to see more standardization when it comes to the full line of Dell storage products.

Customer Service and Technical Support

Customer Service:

I would rate their customer service as a 10 out of 10.

Technical Support:

I would rate their technical support as a 10 out of 10.

Initial Setup

The initial setup of both devices we have was not complex but rather tricky considering they are installed and configured in different ways.

Implementation Team

We have implemented all of our SANs in house.

ROI

With the 3260i, we use it as disaster recovery storage for our customers. Previously with the powervault, we were paying approximately .81 cents per GB. With the 3260, we are down to .18 per GB in cost. This enables us to lower prices for our customers are still make more money.

Other Solutions Considered

Since we are Dell partners, we simply chose Dell as the vendor. The ease of working with them is what is most important and their technical support has been first class.

Other Advice

The PowerVault 3220i is a good unit, but my biggest concern with it is that the unit will only support up to 1TB sized hard drives. This makes the cost of unit higher when using it as added storage. The MD3260 is a great unit, inexpensive, hold tons of drives, its expandable, and the cost is low.

If I had advice to give, it would be based on all the Dell Storage devices. Make sure you evaluate each device thoroughly and understand exactly what you need it to do. Make sure you talk with a product specialist and let them understand your motives. Choosing the correct device for the job is most important.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
IT Director at Essra hospital
Real User
A good storage option that's stable and reliable
Pros and Cons
  • "The solution is reliable and stable."
  • "We need higher performance and more reliable storage."

What is our primary use case?

We are a hospital in Jordan, I'm the IT director and we are end users of this solution. 

What is most valuable?

We have this solution running almost all the time and it's very reliable and stable.

What needs improvement?

I'll need to replace Dell soon because it's almost obsolete and considered old technology. If I continued using it, I'd need to increase its capacity. We need higher performance and more reliable storage. It's considered an expensive solution in Jordan, it would be better if the price could be reduced. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using this solution for nearly eight years. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

This solution is stable and scalable but it's fallen behind our needs.  

How are customer service and technical support?

We had some performance issues after our initial setup and they managed to resolve all the problems. I haven't needed to contact support since then. 

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is not that straightforward. It involves SAN switches and some setup procedure that are a little complex.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

Licensing fees are expensive - whether that's specifically in Jordan, I'm not sure.

What other advice do I have?

If this solution is within your means as a storage option then I would recommend it.

I rate this solution an eight out of 10. 

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
it_user162129 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Technical Consultant at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
MSP
Entry level storage array. Has limited scalability - perhaps below 100 server environments.

What is most valuable?

Extending volume sizes.

How has it helped my organization?

It allows on demand without disruption to growing the size of a volume which then in turn allows a system to see more disk capacity previously this required downtime and had to be schedule out of hours.

What needs improvement?

Better monitoring / event logs and firmware upgrade process.

For how long have I used the solution?

2 years.

What was my experience with deployment of the solution?

No the San was fairly easy to install and the documentation is good.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Only once when the storage array seem to be very slow and caused VMware Hosts to not see the volumes.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Not yet, as this was for a small virtualisation environment of 20 servers and 100 desktops.

How are customer service and technical support?

Customer Service:

Very good general Dell Storage support is very responsive.

Technical Support:

Technical knowledge was good.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

EMC AX3, due to high hardware and maintenance costs Dell was selected.

How was the initial setup?

Was easy to setup.

What about the implementation team?

Vendor team, Ultima Business Solutions.

What was our ROI?

1 year.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

Setup cost was £30k hard to determine day to day costs.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

Dell EqualLogic was reviewed but deemed too expensive for the use case.

What other advice do I have?

Understand that this is a entry level storage array and has limited scalability perhaps below 100 server environments.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: We're a Dell partner
PeerSpot user
reviewer1278084 - PeerSpot reviewer
Pre-sale and Post-sale Engineer at a reseller with 201-500 employees
Real User
Entry-level storage solution with good replication and tiered storage
Pros and Cons
  • "The initial setup was easy and simple."
  • "PowerVault could be improved by increasing its memory cache capacity and adding the ability to export data to the cloud."

What is our primary use case?

My primary uses are virtualization and general-purpose workloads.

What is most valuable?

The features I've found most valuable are replication and tiered storage.

What needs improvement?

PowerVault could be improved by increasing its memory cache capacity and adding the ability to export data to the cloud.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using this solution for a year.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

PowerVault is stable.

How are customer service and support?

Dell's technical support is excellent.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was easy and simple.

What other advice do I have?

PowerVault is an entry-level model for customers needing their first storage solution. I would rate this solution as ten out of ten. 

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
it_user5157 - PeerSpot reviewer
Sr System Engineer at a outsourcing company with 501-1,000 employees
Vendor
A highly reliable system with excellent IOPS performance, SD card booting options but lacking a LCD view on-board.

Valuable Features:

A highly reliable RAID system with durable high speed hard disk drives. The OS can be flashed on to a SD card thereby giving you more space for storage. I've found that the enterprise support from Dell Customer Care is excellent.

Room for Improvement:

No LCD panel for viewing status on-board.

Other Advice:

My Company has huge data requirements for which I bought this Dell Powervault NX 3200 with 10 TB storage. It was selected due to very impressive IOPS performance and has proven itself. In my company there are more than 100 users connecting to this server simultaneously and still the I/O operations are very smooth. Dell-IDRAC provides a nice way to manage and monitor its performance.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
it_user1068 - PeerSpot reviewer
it_user1068Tech Support Staff at a tech company with 51-200 employees
Vendor

We have used this backup system for more than five years now to complement our cloud backup system. The only reason we still use PowerVault RAID system for backing up our company data is the fact that it has an excellent disk performance; it has never let us down apart from a few challenges we were able to overcome easily.

Buyer's Guide
Download our free Dell PowerVault Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
Updated: November 2024
Product Categories
Enterprise SAN Fibre Channel
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Dell PowerVault Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.