Question about Drive FIRMWARE levels

[Bruce Garlock]

I am new to HP hardware, and recently purchased 8 new ML-350 G5 servers, with various combinations of HD's for various RAID levels. Out of the pile of HD's we purchased, I recorded all the serial numbers as well as makes and models of the HD's.

All of the drives had the same firmware level (as indicated by the label), except for ONE drive. I would like to build a simple RAID-1 array with these two 146GB 15k SAS single port Hot Swap drives, but since they have DIFFERENT firmware revisions, can I expect the same reliability?

We confirmed the drives were different levels by booting up the machine, and seeing that they were in fact different, so it is not a labeling issue. All of the drives were purchased on the same PO, so nothing has been spread out as far as shipping - they mostly all came in the same day.

One firmware is HPD0 (the one drive that is different), while all the other drives have HPD5 revisions.

These will be installed using the built-in e200 array controller.

Will they be reliable? Can I flash a new firmware?

Thank you,

Bruce

P.S. This thread has been moved from Disk to  ProLiant Servers (ML,DL,SL). -HP Forum Moderator

[Víctor Cespón]

Are all disks the same model?
Take into account that the firmware revisions do not change at the same time for all models. An old model can be on HPD5 and a newly released one is still on HPD0 because it's the first version.

You can update the firmware of the disks with the Firmware CD:

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/SoftwareDescription.jsp?lang=en&cc=us&prodTypeId=15351&prodSeriesId=1121586&prodNameId=3279711&swEnvOID=1005&swLang=8&mode=2&taskId=135&swItem=MTX-8141ddd7398a47ba87134a90dd

Or searching the model on HP Software & Driver Downloads page.

[Bruce Garlock]

First, thanks for the lightning fast response. I really appreciate not having to make a phone call for this issue.

Well, according to the label, they are different models:

One is a: DF146ABAA9
And: DF146A9845

Again, after recording about 10 serial numbers or so in a row, I got used to looking at the same spot on the label, which is when I noticed this issue.

Although I ordered 146GB 15K SAS Single Port Hot Swap, but there is one model number that is unlike the rest.

I am fine with using it, I just wanted to know if there was some weird issue with firmware, and the array controller conflicting, which is why there is a newer firmware on the majority of my drives.

So, do you think I will be alright with these two models together in a RAID-1?

Thanks,

Bruce

[Víctor Cespón · Accepted solution]

For DF146ABAA9 latest firmware is HPDA, while for DF146A9845 is still HPD0.

You can see the full list here:
http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/Document.jsp?lang=en&cc=us&objectID=c00305257&prodTypeId=15351&prodSeriesId=397642

There's no problem using different disk models, as long as the firmware is not too old.