Lenovo 4XB7A77449 ST50 V2 3.5 8TB 7.2K 6GB NHS HDD

Lenovo 4XB7A77449 8TB 7.2K SATA Non-Hot-Swap 3.5" Server Hard Drive

Overview

The Lenovo 4XB7A77449 is an 8TB, 7,200 RPM, 3.5-inch non-hot-swap hard drive qualified for the ThinkSystem ST50 V2 and ST50 V3 tower servers. If you are expanding storage in an ST50-based deployment — whether that is a small branch office running local network video recorder workloads, a point-of-sale back-office server, or a general-purpose edge compute node — this drive is the factory-validated option for that platform. Using a platform-validated drive matters: Lenovo's firmware compatibility testing reduces the risk of drive errors, unexpected RAID rebuild failures, or HDD recognition issues that can surface when generic consumer drives are substituted into server bays.

Key Features

• 8TB Capacity: Eight terabytes per spindle gives an ST50 V2 with two populated bays 16TB of raw storage — enough to hold roughly 60–90 days of continuous 1080p footage from a small multi-camera system at typical H.265 bitrates, or months of transactional data for a branch database. You get meaningful retention headroom without immediately scaling to an external NAS.
• 7,200 RPM Spindle Speed: At 7.2K RPM this drive delivers the sequential throughput profile suited to sustained write workloads — surveillance recording, log ingestion, or backup targets — where a 5,400 RPM drive would introduce latency spikes under concurrent read/write load. For a single-user tower server running mixed workloads, 7.2K is the practical sweet spot between power draw and performance.
• 6 Gb/s SATA Interface: The SATA III 6 Gb/s interface is the native connection standard on the ThinkSystem ST50 V2/V3 backplane. No HBA, no adapter, no additional cabling beyond what ships with the server. The interface saturates well above the drive's sustained mechanical throughput, so the bus is never the bottleneck.
• 3.5-Inch Form Factor: The full-size 3.5-inch form factor fits the ST50's standard drive bays directly. No 2.5-to-3.5-inch adapter bracket required. Physical installation is straightforward: seat the drive, connect the SATA data and power cables, and configure in the BIOS or RAID utility.
• Non-Hot-Swap (NHS) Design: The NHS designation means the server must be powered down before swapping this drive. For always-on production environments where uptime is critical, plan maintenance windows around any drive replacement. For branch office or edge deployments where a brief scheduled outage is acceptable, the NHS configuration is a non-issue and keeps acquisition cost lower than hot-swap alternatives.
• Platform Validation for ThinkSystem ST50 V2/V3: Lenovo qualifies specific drives against specific server platforms through compatibility testing. The 4XB7A77449 is listed for the ST50 V2 and ST50 V3. Installing a validated drive means the server's management firmware will correctly report drive health, SMART data, and predictive failure alerts through Lenovo's XClarity tools — you get actionable warnings before a drive fails, not silence followed by a crash.
• 2.80 lb / Commercial Weight Class: At 2.80 lb, the drive is within normal handling spec for server rack and tower installations. No special mounting hardware beyond standard SATA drive screws.

Integration and Compatibility

The 4XB7A77449 is validated for the ThinkSystem ST50 V2 and ST50 V3 tower server platforms. Do not assume compatibility with other ThinkSystem models (ST250, ST550, SR series) without checking Lenovo's server compatibility matrix for those platforms — drive qualification is platform-specific, not brand-wide. For ST50-based NVR or edge storage deployments, pair this drive with an appropriate PoE switch and IP camera infrastructure to build a complete local recording architecture. If your retention or throughput requirements exceed what two or four ST50 bays can provide, evaluate a multi-bay network-attached storage expansion before committing to additional ST50 units. The drive ships as a non-hot-swap unit — confirm your ST50 chassis is configured for fixed (non-hot-swap) bays, not the hot-swap backplane variant, before ordering.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Is the 4XB7A77449 compatible with the ThinkSystem ST50 V3?

A: Yes. The 4XB7A77449 is validated for both the ThinkSystem ST50 V2 and ST50 V3. Confirm compatibility with other ThinkSystem platforms via Lenovo's official server compatibility matrix before use in a different chassis.

Q: Is this drive hot-swappable?

A: No. The NHS (Non-Hot-Swap) designation means the server must be shut down before installing or replacing this drive. If your deployment requires zero-downtime drive replacement, look for the hot-swap variant qualified for your chassis.

Q: What interface does the 4XB7A77449 use?

A: SATA at 6 Gb/s. This is the native interface on the ThinkSystem ST50 V2/V3 drive bays — no adapter or additional controller card is required.

Q: How much continuous surveillance footage will 8TB store?

A: Storage capacity depends on camera count, resolution, bitrate, and compression codec. As a general reference, a single H.265-encoded 1080p stream at 2–4 Mbps consumes roughly 20–40 GB per day. Eight terabytes provides approximately 200–400 camera-days of retention at those settings — enough for a small multi-camera system with 30–90 days of retention depending on configuration.

Q: Can I use this drive in a RAID array inside the ST50?

A: The ST50 V2 supports software RAID and optional RAID adapter cards. Using two 4XB7A77449 drives in RAID 1 provides mirrored redundancy at 8TB usable. Confirm your ST50's RAID controller options in Lenovo's configuration guide for the specific chassis before ordering multiple drives for a RAID build.

Q: What does the drive weigh and what are its dimensions?

A: The 4XB7A77449 weighs 2.80 lb and measures 6.30 × 4.10 × 1.80 inches (L × W × H), standard for a 3.5-inch desktop/server form factor drive.

Jerry Tildsen

The 4XB7A77449 is a straightforward spec: 8TB, 7,200 RPM, SATA 6 Gb/s, non-hot-swap, 3.5-inch, validated for the ThinkSystem ST50 V2 and V3. What matters in practice is the NHS designation — integrators who drop this into an ST50 expecting hot-swap behavior are going to be disappointed. The server has to come down for any drive swap. That is fine for a branch office or edge NVR node with a maintenance window, but it rules this drive out of any deployment where storage uptime is contractually mandated.

Technical Highlights:

• 8TB / 7,200 RPM: Adequate sustained write throughput for a small multi-camera H.265 recording workload on an ST50. At 7.2K RPM you avoid the sequential write latency spikes that 5,400 RPM drives introduce under concurrent camera streams — relevant if the ST50 is pulling double duty as both recorder and management server.
• SATA 6 Gb/s: Native to the ST50 V2/V3 backplane. No additional HBA or cabling. The 6 Gb/s bus runs well above the drive's mechanical throughput ceiling, so interface bandwidth is never the constraint.
• 2.80 lb / 6.30 × 4.10 × 1.80 in: Standard 3.5-inch drive envelope. Fits ST50 fixed bays without adapters. Weight is within normal server drive handling range — no special tooling required for installation.

Deployment Considerations:

• Platform validation is per-chassis: the 4XB7A77449 is listed for the ST50 V2 and V3 specifically. Do not assume it will be recognized or carry full SMART reporting on ST250 or SR-series systems without a separate compatibility check against Lenovo's HDD matrix.
• Non-hot-swap is a hard operational constraint, not a minor footnote. If you are building an always-on recording node and cannot tolerate any maintenance downtime, either design in RAID 1 redundancy with a spare or spec the hot-swap backplane variant from the start.

This drive is the right call for ThinkSystem ST50 V2/V3 deployments where 8TB of validated, cost-effective storage capacity is the primary requirement — specifically edge NVR nodes, branch office file servers, or local backup targets where a scheduled maintenance window is operationally acceptable.