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It is common when reviewing server configurations to find unsupported external USB hard disk drives attached to PowerEdge servers running the Windows Server operating system. Many of the USB hard disk drives on the market today are only designed, tested and supported on client operating systems specifically Windows and OS X. Information about removable storage supported on Windows Server can be found in the Windows Server Catalog located here. This article applies to Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2012, Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows Server 2016 and Windows Server 2019.
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Check with the manufacturer of the USB hard disk drive to determine if it is supported.
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It is recommended to connect external USB hard disk drives supported by the Windows Server operating system.
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