Are new APxxx Disks compatible with old AJxxx?

[Rob_69_1]

Hi all,

I have an MSA2000 (2012FC double controller), and I've got 2 virtual disks on it, composed by 300 and 450 Gbytes disks respectively.

The codes that used to identify the disks were:

AJ736A --> 300 GB
AJ737A --> 450 GB

Now I'd like to add hot spares to my VDisks, but newer disks have different codes:

300 GB --> AP858A
450 GB --> AP859A

Can I safely mix them with the old ones without incurring in problems?

Thanks...

[Johan Guldmyr]

AJ736A ===

480938-001 300.0GB MSA2 hard drive - 15,000 RPM, 3.5-inch form factor, Serial Attached SCSI (SAS), dual-port

AP858A ===

601775-001 SPS-DRV HD 300GB 6G 15K

So, the new disk is a 6G not a 3G as the old one. Will it work? I suppose the 6G disk will just run at 3G instead of 6G but don't know for sure..

[Rob_69_1]

Thanks Johan,

I understand from your answer that the greater chance is that the devices WILL work together.

Hopefully somebody who already faced this problem will give the definitive confirmation/deny that this is possible...

[hvhari]

Hi,

As per quick specs of HP, they are compatible.

http://h18004.www1.hp.com/products/quickspecs/13187_div/13187_div.HTML

Hence you should not find any issues in using them in your MSA :)

[Rob_69_1]

Thanks Hari, this almost answers my question...

Ok, the APxxxx disks are supported. Now the last doubt is if I can safely assign them as hot spares to an ALREADY EXISTING Virtual Disk made up of AJxxxx disks.

In the event of a disk failure, will the disk reconstruction successfully take place?

Sorry if I insist, but as it looks like the vendor is insisting for me to put in the APxxxx, I want to make sure it's ok in the situation I described in the beginning.

Maybe the AJxxxx are already out of production? don't know why they don't propose me that type of device...

[hvhari · Accepted solution]

Hi Rob,

Yes, there are no issues in mixing the disk types. They can be added to existing vdisk as spare

New disk are of 6G , which are added to MSA recently. They will work in 3G on Gen2 MSAs which is mentioned in the quick specs links.

3G disks may be out of production and not available as new sales. However it may be available as a spare part if you are very keen on adding them to maintain the uniform disk types. You can check via http://partsufer.hp.com or can log a trade call with HP to buy spare disks.

[Rob_69_1]

Thanks for your help!

[Rob_69_1]

Somethimes, things turn out to be just impossible to manage, this is apparently one of those cases.

The answer that Hari gave me just above does not apply, since my MSA 2012FC is a G1.

Therefore the Quickspecs DO NOT state that the g6 disks are supported on my SAN.

In a matter of fact, after speaking directly to HP, they told me that the supported disks of the size I need are just AJ737A and AJ736A, now out of production.

Therefore I bought Spare Parts kits listed on partsurfer.hp.com :

AJ736A --> Kit 480938-001
AJ737A --> Kit 480939-001

They send me the right Kit, apparently. All the labels and stickers on the disks are allright.

BUT:

when I insert the disks in the enclosure they are recognized as 6G !!!!

The Disks they sent me, at a deeper look, turn out to be:

SEAGATE ST3300657SS (300 GBytes) and
SEAGATE ST3450857SS (450 Gbytes)

The Disks already present in my enclosure (and the SUPPORTED model) are:

SEAGATE ST3300656SS (300 GBytes) and
SEAGATE ST3450856SS (450 GBytes)

Notice the slight difference in the code.

CONCLUSION: I am on an UNSUPPORTED configuration, even after buying official Spare Parts. They tell me that even if we substitute the parts, THE GREATER CHANCE IS THAT THEY WILL SEND ME THE SAME DISKS AGAIN, because there is no control of what's inside the boxes, given that the labels are allright.

QUESTION: What to do? Just slam the disks in and hope that they will work? This situation is so bad. They sold me the hardware 2 years ago and now it's ready to be trashed?? How can this be possible?

Thanks for any hints or ideas about sorting out this.