Dell blocking non-Dell hard disks now

[pete]

Up until now, the controller would just bleat occasionally into the event logs if you were using a drive with non-Dell firmware.

No longer:

Dell servers block un-Dell HDDs ? Channel Register
Third-party drives not permitted on Gen 11 servers

Newer servers won't let you do it at all. Time to complain to the reps or move to another manufacturer - I'll be damned if I'll pay the Dell sata markup for cheap bulk storage.

[Dos_Box]

TBH, I always brought drives for my SAN and servers from Dell as I didn't want to bork the warrenty and I knew the support for them would be next day. For mission critical kit you've got to factor in costs like this IMHO.

[pete]

TBH, I always brought drives for my SAN and servers from Dell as I didn't want to bork the warrenty and I knew the support for them would be next day. For mission critical kit you've got to factor in costs like this IMHO.

Dell will happily support their hardware even if you add extra bits to it. They just won't support the bits you add.

Agree re sans and critical servers. But for a box I just want to stuff with 2TB drives as a backup target, I refuse to pay Dell markup since there's been no demonstratable difference in failure rates or performance between a Dell drive and a non-Dell drive (IME).

[AngryTechnician]

I'm with Pete on this one. While I normally buy drives with the server for the all-in-one Dell warranty support, I want the option to bung different drives in there if push comes to shove. I'll be talking very carefully to suppliers about this when ordering my new servers later this year.

[FN-GM]

im sure there will be a way to flash non dell disks with a dell firmware.

[broc]

This announcement made me wonder, has anyone looked at the cost of using DELL drives vs non-DELL RAID controller + non-DELL drives?

A quick google revealed LSI 3ware 9690SA-8E Storage controller (RAID)- Serial ATA-300 / SAS- 300 MBps 8 port controller for around £400....

[SYNACK]

Eek, I hope that this nasty little habbit does not spread like the fiber GBICs did. I also usually recommend and use vendor supplied drives but there are certain times when this is not the best solution ie adding 2x 2TB SATA scratch drives when they are not avalible from server vendors here yet. The hp controllers still work with other drives for the time being at least.

[Sylv3r]

Personally I tend to stick with the manufacturers own branded drives whilst the server is in warranty. Once the warranty period is over I'll stick whatever I want in it.

I imagine there is too much finger pointing if something did go wrong and you weren't using their own parts.

[Arthur]

So to get around this block, you just need to purchase a non-Dell RAID card?