DL380 G1 compatible RAID controller

[Mike Brown_11]

I recently discovered that Ultra 320 drives were not compatible with the Integrated Smart Array controller in the 1st Gen (933MHz) DL380. I need to upgrade the drives to 36.4GB. What RAID controller is compatible with the DL380 G1 (933MHz) and Ultra 3 drives? Thanks.

[Terry Hutchings]

SA431

[e4services]

What compatibility issues have you discovered? The drives should be completely compatible, just they will not be operating using Ultra320.

[Mike Brown_11]

Blue screens after reboot of install, missing OS messages. Tried using both the Assisted and Manual SmartStart methods. Compaq support verified the controller driver using suring setup was correct, BIOS, firmware all updated. Then Compaq said it the Ultra320's did not work with the RAID controller in the G1 DL380.

I agree with you, I thought they would work fine, I just wouldn't get the spped benefits of the newer drives.

Any thoughts on why I had problems with the drives during install? (It was NT4.0 Server, the application requires that OS) When I put the odler Ultra3 drives in, there are no problems.

[Terry Hutchings]

What firmware version do you have on the integrated array?

[e4services]

My guess then is the size you are selecting for the partition size for the OS. The firmware version my effect this, but it has to do with the translation used to describe the drive to the OS. NT4 can not boot in a partition that extends beyond the 1024th sylinder of the hard drive and since the controller is in between the OS and the HD and virtually describing the HD to the OS, you do not know where this will actually land in terms of GB's. Trail and error will be your solution without a tool like PartitionMagic. I do not know what you are attempting, but 8GB's is the max it can be, just try something lower, the default is 2GB because it always works.
Hope this helps