This is probably a really dumb question, but I'd rather be stupid now then after ordering something!

I need to order two 146GB 2.5inch 10k SAS drives for our mail server (Dell PowerEdge 2950). Dell wants an outrageous $329.99 per drive (hot-swap tray included). I can get two hot-swap trays from eBay for ~$50 (inducing screws and shipping), and I've found drives (new) for as low as $150 each.

My question is...do all SAS drives have the same connection footprint? I don't want to order drives and discover that the footprint is different than what's in the hot-swap bay.

 

Assuming the trays are made for your 2950, you should be okay. Make sure ebay jack off isn't selling you blank spacer trays!

 

^ lol...of course. I don't need more of what I already have . I found this:

http://www.scsi4me.com/seagate-st914...drive-oem.html

And the trays:

http://www.scsi4me.com/product_info.php?products_id=1725{46}268

Saves a couple hundred bucks...I'm happy.

 

Is your 2950 still under warranty? If so, then using drives not supplied by Dell is probably a bad idea. Especially on a mail server.

 

^ It is under warranty...20 some odd days left. What complication will arise with using non Dell supplied drives?

(Edit: checked Dell's website...209 days left on the warranty.)

 

Dell support is probably going to tell you to go take a hike if you call them for anything even remotely having to do with those drives.

Another consideration, Dell issues firmware upgrades for both drives and their PERC raid controllers. If you upgrade the firmware on the PERC, you may suddenly find that it's having issues with your third party drives when it never did before.

BTW, I went to Dell's site and looked at the parts finder for 2950 servers. The two 146 GB 10K SAS drives I saw were $146 and $240.

EDIT: I should clarify that I was logged in under my Premiere account when finding those prices.

 

Dell quoted me $659.98 plus tax for two...

"146GB 10K RPM Serial-Attach SCSI 3Gbps 2.5-in HotPlug HardDrive, Cust. Kit (341-4733)"

Which I assume is two drives with hot swap trays included.

This was over the phone and supposedly under our premier account.

 

Ok, so I was looking at the warranty and specs info for different 2950. Needless to say, I am embarassed

It turns out that the mail server has 934 days of warranty left and it uses 15K RPM drives.

Unless problems arise, I highly doubt any firmware updates will be applied to the controller and/or disks (if it ain't broke, don't fix it?). FWIW, the server runs Zimbra under Debian Etch.

If I buy the drives from Dell, will they be assumed in the warranty of the server? Though...doesn't Seagate warranty some of their drives for 5 years?

 

Yes, but getting dell to do the service if you have non dell parts in the server is a pain in the ass (speaking from experience)

 

Ah. Alright then, I'll be getting the drives from Dell.