On Sat, Feb 06, 2010 at 11:35:31AM +1100, Mark Walkom scribbled in "Re: Third-party drives not permitted on Gen 11 servers": > This thread Brandon mentioned earlier explains it a little - > http://en.community.dell.com/forums/p/19314432/19649799.aspx > >From the thread; > *"Yes, while on the surface I don't like the sound of it, the truth is that > "Dell-certified" drives have a special firmware on them that allows them > to respond correctly to advanced requests made by the controllers so that > operation of the machine can be guaranteed. Having been a technical analyst > for Dell servers, I can tell you that many issues arise from the use of > non-certified drives. So, while I don't like it, I can understand it. > Besides, Dell doesn't make the drives - they are made the top drive > manufacturers, but in order to guarantee compatibility/reliability, they put > a Dell-specific FW on them. Just a thought :)"*
I've only been lurking on the list for a week or so, but after recent experience buying some dell servers, and almost a MD1000 (backed out of that because of the drive/hot-swap-tray availability issue) I'm still damn annoyed, and irritated enough to chip in my 2c... If Dell doesn't make drives, but just re-badges drives from "the top drive manufacturers", why should I trust Dell firmware? Why should I trust it _more_ than firmware made by the real manufacturer of the drive? Should I worry about all the other drives that we have purchased from those same "top drive manufacturers"? Just as it looked like the industry was turning away from lock-in (which is only a good thing in a pub), this kind of thing happens. I was a big fan of Dell servers, but if this continues, they've lost my business. Cheers. Dameon. -- ><> ><> ><> ><> ><> ><> ooOoo <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< Dr. Dameon Wagner, Senior ICT Specialist, Depts. of Computer Science & Information Systems, Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa. ><> ><> ><> ><> ><> ><> ooOoo <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< _______________________________________________ Linux-PowerEdge mailing list [email protected] https://lists.us.dell.com/mailman/listinfo/linux-poweredge Please read the FAQ at http://lists.us.dell.com/faq
