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#1
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Replacing EMC Clariion disks with Best Buy disks
I have a Clariion CX400 being used in a lab with 250 GB sata drives and I want
to pull out the drives out of the drive brackets and replace them with 500 GB or 750 GB drives I buy from ...say Frys or Best Buy. Is there a special firmware on the EMC drives that may prevent me from doing this or any other technical reason? TIA. |
#3
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Replacing EMC Clariion disks with Best Buy disks
On Sep 4, 4:47*pm, Boll Weevil wrote:
On Tue, 1 Sep 2009 07:52:28 +0000 (UTC), wrote: Boll Weevil kenjka: I have a Clariion CX400 being used in a lab with 250 GB sata drives and I want to pull out the drives out of the drive brackets and replace them with 500 GB or 750 GB drives I buy from ...say Frys or Best Buy. *Is there a special firmware on the EMC drives that may prevent me from doing this or any other technical reason? *TIA. So far I know, it won't be possible, since CLARiiON drives are factory formatted to 520 bytes per sector... Other thing you should check is HDD compatibility list for the FLARE OS you're CX400 is running... Before we completely throw in the towel, check this out: http://www.experts-exchange.com/Stor...ogy/Q_23750574... It is a very interesting topic. I personally manage a Clariion CX3 and used to manage a CX600 and am interested in what you find out. However, I have steadfastly REFUSED to follow any links to that damned "experts-exchange" website and PAY for answers. I'll just wait to see what you guys come up with |
#4
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Replacing EMC Clariion disks with Best Buy disks
On Mon, 7 Sep 2009 00:26:37 +0000 (UTC), lid wrote:
There are some utilities like SCSITool which can format the SCSI-based drive to specific sector size, but what happens with EMC firmware information then?... I think that is the big question at hand. I personal opinion is that there is no special sauce in the CX HD as widely publicized other than the 520 bps. EMC says they have a special voodoo on the drive and that's why they charge 1000% more for what you and I can buy it at Frys or Best Buy. I've searched but no body has done it yet. On EMC's support forums all I see is .... "you can't do that" and "it's not supported" and other similar bull^%%$. We need to get to the bottom of this issue. Something I found: How to change the block size of a hard drive using Linux and the scu utility http://www.doki-doki.net/~lamune/com...ize/index.html |
#5
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Replacing EMC Clariion disks with Best Buy disks
On Sep 8, 1:56*pm, Boll Weevil wrote:
On Mon, 7 Sep 2009 00:26:37 +0000 (UTC), wrote: There are some utilities like SCSITool which can format the SCSI-based drive to specific sector size, but what happens with EMC firmware information then?... I think that is the big question at hand. *I personal opinion is that there is no special sauce in the CX HD as widely publicized other than the 520 bps.. *EMC says they have a special voodoo on the drive and that's why they charge 1000% more for what you and I can buy it at Frys or Best Buy. *I've searched but no body has done it yet. *On EMC's support forums all I see is .... "you can't do that" and "it's not supported" and other similar bull^%%$. *We need to get to the bottom of this issue. * Something I found: How to change the block size of a hard drive using Linux and the scu utility http://www.doki-doki.net/~lamune/com...ize/index.html I spoke to a vendor that I buy hard drives and HBA's from (they sell quite a bit more than that). He says this particular CX is going EOL soon, if not already, and he suggested that you get all of your firmware up to date then go with 3rd party maintenance as a 3rd party company will not give you crap about not putting EMC qualified drives in the box to begin with. He is not 100% sure about the EMC firmware voodoo, but says it is quite possible. He also sells used (waranteed) EMC drives for the array at a ridiculous discount compared to what EMC would have you pay. I will give you his contact information offline if you want it. They are a nationwide VAR of servers and storage. If nothing else you could speak with him or his technical staff to pursue the EMC microcode issue. I am pretty sure that if you couldn't get a drive (that you bought from him) to work in that array, that he would take the drive back. |
#6
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Replacing EMC Clariion disks with Best Buy disks
On Tue, 8 Sep 2009 13:03:11 -0700 (PDT), mrvelous1 wrote:
I spoke to a vendor that I buy hard drives and HBA's from (they sell quite a bit more than that). He says this particular CX is going EOL soon, if not already, and he suggested that you get all of your firmware up to date then go with 3rd party maintenance as a 3rd party company will not give you crap about not putting EMC qualified drives in the box to begin with. He is not 100% sure about the EMC firmware voodoo, but says it is quite possible. He also sells used (waranteed) EMC drives for the array at a ridiculous discount compared to what EMC would have you pay. I will give you his contact information offline if you want it. They are a nationwide VAR of servers and storage. If nothing else you could speak with him or his technical staff to pursue the EMC microcode issue. I am pretty sure that if you couldn't get a drive (that you bought from him) to work in that array, that he would take the drive back. Thanx for the offer. I too know of a local reconditioned reseller. They too want 350-500 dollars for a 500 gig drive. My cx400 has no maintenance and hence a lab array. Several of our production CX4 are about to run out of maintenance and will be decomm'd and will take over the duties of the cx400 in about 9 months. In the mean time, I am just curious as to this particular topic at hand and want to investigate to see if it can be done. |
#7
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Replacing EMC Clariion disks with Best Buy disks
Boll Weevil kenjka:
a lab array. Several of our production CX4 are about to run out of maintenance and will be decomm'd and will take over the duties of the cx400 in about 9 months. In the mean time, I am just curious as to this particular topic at hand and want to investigate to see if it can be done. Excuse me, but CX4 has a default 36 months support, it's a newest EMC's storage product, and it's been in production since 2009... So, there is no way that it'll go out of maintenance in 9 mth... If you're talking about CX400, then it's possible... Why don't you do a buy-in with EMC? It's recession time, you could get pretty good discounts on buying new CX4 with CX400 buy-in or some other financing option from EMC? -- Fatao podmazuje ispod mosta lijep Zidovo podmazuje uvijek ? By runf Damir Lukic, http://inovator.blog.hr http://calypso-innovations.blogspot.com/ |
#8
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Replacing EMC Clariion disks with Best Buy disks
On Thu, 10 Sep 2009 05:47:26 -0700 (PDT), mrvelous1 wrote:
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * As mentioned above, there is typically a 3 year maintenance/warranty included with a purchase of a new device from EMC. And, you do have quite a bit of leverage now to use it as a trade-in/trade-up as well. Since it's already "paid for", if it is in good condition and you don't want to lose it, there are also 3rd party maintenance companies that are giving you better coverage on Clariion for less than EMC charges. About 80% less. It's quite staggering what we're actually paying for storage maintenance from the OEM's. When you compare 3rd party maintenance vs. OEM you truly have to wonder how you let your OEM screw you for so long. Made a mistake.. its a CX700. |
#9
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Replacing EMC Clariion disks with Best Buy disks
mrvelous1 wrote:
On Sep 4, 4:47?pm, Boll Weevil wrote: On Tue, 1 Sep 2009 07:52:28 +0000 (UTC), wrote: Boll Weevil kenjka: I have a Clariion CX400 being used in a lab with 250 GB sata drives and I want to pull out the drives out of the drive brackets and replace them with 500 GB or 750 GB drives I buy from ...say Frys or Best Buy. ?Is there a special firmware on the EMC drives that may prevent me from doing this or any other technical reason? ?TIA. So far I know, it won't be possible, since CLARiiON drives are factory formatted to 520 bytes per sector... Other thing you should check is HDD compatibility list for the FLARE OS you're CX400 is running... Before we completely throw in the towel, check this out: http://www.experts-exchange.com/Stor...ogy/Q_23750574... It is a very interesting topic. I personally manage a Clariion CX3 and used to manage a CX600 and am interested in what you find out. However, I have steadfastly REFUSED to follow any links to that damned "experts-exchange" website and PAY for answers. I'll just wait to see what you guys come up with that site is ****ing obnoxious. |
#10
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Replacing EMC Clariion disks with Best Buy disks
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