Failed SAS HDD in RAID 5 array

[Bruce123]

Afternoon Edugeeks,

 

We have a Dell server PowerEdge 2950 purchased over 3 years ago, and one of the HDD drives has just failed in the RAID 5 array.

 

It is a 300GB SAS 10K RPM drive.

 

I spoke to Dell and they provided two options:

 

A) Refurbished 300GB (£235 inc VAT)

B) New 600GB 15K RPM (£358 inc VAT) (he said that they no longer sell the 300GB model of drive but the 600GB would work - the extra space would just just not be used)

 

I did a quick search online and found new 300GB SAS 10K drive for a lot less, my question is should a non-Dell supplied drive (e.g. Seagate) work OK?

 

(I would not go for the refurbished option so that would just leave the new drive at £358).

 

Any advice appreciated.

 

Thanks,

 

Bruce.

[Butuz]

Non dell drive should be fine as long as its a 10k SAS drive. Make sure its the same speed (i.e 10kRPM). Try to get a 300GB but really size doesn't matter too much as it will just use the first 300GB of the drive.

 

Butuz

[Duke]

Just one thing - for a very short period (couple of months if I recall) Dell shipped RAID cards that only supported drives flashed with Dell's firmware. After a huge backlash they reversed this and offered a RAID card update that went back to accepting any drive. Generally speaking any drive of the right type (it should still work if it's bigger or faster, but getting one the same speed as Butuz said would be a good idea) will work, however it obviously wouldn't be supported and there is always the tiny chance it won't behave as the RAID card expects due to the different firmware.

 

I recently had to put a third-party drive in a NetApp array that was out of warranty. To get that working you have to go through all sorts of hassle like re-labelling the drive and forcing it to unfail... does work fine when tested though.

 

Chris

[Bruce123]

Thank you both for replying to my query.

 

I did a search and found a Seagate 300GB SAS drive for around £130 and almost placed and order for before noticing that it was 2.5" whereas the ones in the server are 3.5", so rather than risk any further spec mismatches/mistakes (and given there is a slight chance it may not be compatible - e.g. non dell Firmware), I decided to go ahead with Dell's quotation.

 

The order is for 600GB SAS 6Gb/s 15K (£359 inc VAT)

The actual failed drive is 300GB SAS 3/Gbit 10K.

 

So it' off spec in 3 ways, but it must be OK if Dell specified it (and I informed them of the Asset Tag of the server).

 

Thanks,

 

Bruce.

[Arthur]

A bit late, but a 300GB 3.5" Seagate Cheetah 15K.7 SAS hard drive is only £136.30 + VAT.

 

I suppose with the Dell drive you can easily return it if it doesn't work.

[Achandler]

Its like HP, they sell you a £160 drive (yes identical drive) but with the HP enclosure for only £330

[DMcCoy]

If it's a PERC6 you may get some informational errors due to the drive not responding correctly to a status query (which the exact same drive will do when running the dell firmware). Although it will still work.