Upcoming PERC H700 and PERC H800 Cards

Yes, while on the surface I don't like the sound of it, the truth is that "Dell-certified" drives have a special firmware on them that allows them to respond correctly to advanced requests made by the controllers so that operation of the machine can be guaranteed.  Having been a technical analyst for Dell servers, I can tell you that many issues arise from the use of non-certified drives.  So, while I don't like it, I can understand it.  Besides, Dell doesn't make the drives - they are made the top drive manufacturers, but in order to guarantee compatibility/reliability, they put a Dell-specific FW on them.  Just a thought :)

On the other hand I have rarely use Dell certified drives, except during warranty, over the last 20 years and have had just about zip issues using new retail drives. This is mostly a money making scam for Dell.

I understand why they want people to use "Dell-certified" drives, but to totally BLOCK the use of NON Dell-certified drives is taking it way overboard! especially because they are not even using their own drives but they are charging like they made their own drives, the mark up on "Dell-certified" drives is about 10 times the amount of regular drives :emotion-12:

Just tried using brand new Hitachi HDS72202 2TB SATA drive...  and sure its detected and listed as unsupported in Server Administrator....  but in the Integrated BIOS manager it marked as BLOCKED....  lovely great....  what proprietary nonsense it is…   I suppose they trying to sell more drives…  I think they going to figure out that they will be selling less servers like that…  A) they don’t have 2TB drive now and B) who will pay for this drive $900 when you can get drive plus tray for less than $170…

" I think they going to figure out that they will be selling less servers like that…"

Agree, in the long run there will be many angry customers who will switch to another supplier.

Time to dust off the HP reps business card....

I just found this out the hard way on a newly-delivered R710. Trying to reject the unit back to Dell - failing that, I'll get the H700 changed out for a PERC6/i. Looks like Dell will lose our business once the PERC6 line is no longer offered.

Philip

I just verified that an R710 with a PERC6 *will* initialise a VD on non-Dell HDDs. Buys us some time to find an alternative vendor.

This are not good news.

I always use certified Dell drives, but when something fails and the hotspare is been used, I put a extra HDD from any shop to have extra security.

Also I was using intel X25-E on a testing server and would be imposible with that.

It's worth mentioning that some of Dell's drives carry a markup of over 600%!

EG: a 2TB SATA drive, with no caddy (just cabled in) is £740 if you configure a PowerEdge T410 on Dell's website. I can get the same thing from a local supplier for £100.

Additionally, the Dell standard warranty is only 1 year, whereas commodity drives typically carry 3 - 5 years.

I would like to see a reply from someone from Dell.

It's not a nice strategy at all.

I'm guessing you will not receive the type of answer you are looking for on this forum.  Most of the Dell employees on this forum are here during their work or personal time - voluntarily, and it is very likely that they won't be able to answer your question (beyond what conjecture has already been shared).  Your best bet to receive some kind of explanation or comment on this policy, is to contact your TAM (Technical Account  Manager) and have them attempt to get something for you.

Definitely would be interesting to hear from Dell.  Come on Dell, step up to the plate....personally I would love to hear from the person who who came up with this brilliant idea.

 If Dell uses the point of a small number of drives from manufacturers causing issues, I have no problem acceptting Dell's refusing support with any "uncertified" drives in their equipement... fine with me, as I have had 2 issues in >20 years.

Another point....given my array based servers often run for over 5 years, it is extremely unlikely (nearly impossible) Dell will maintain a surplus of older drives.. then what do we do?  how much will a drive cost in 4 years, double, possible triple the already high price.  

Sounds like it would be economical to purchase a corresponding LsiLogic once the warranty period is close to ending . 

We used to deal with this propriety  nonsense with IBM in the 1980's-90s, and IBM lost an incredible amount of business in that period due to it.. Maintain this policy and you will get away with it for a short period, but will pay for it for 20 years, as did IBM.

 Maybe it just better to look into other PC and server suppliers.

Foolish move Dell...

Come on Dell, a great many purchasers/IT folk would love to hear from you.

Found this.... grab your shovels.....

"Why Customers Should Insist on DELL™ Hard Drives for Enterprise Systems "

"A Dell Point of View Summary"  

http://www.dell.com/downloads/global/products/pvaul/en/dell-hard-drives-pov.pdf

Foolish move Dell...

Definitely will lose in the market, make it right  or it will be too late.

I read your post and can tell you that it was from the word you used instead of 'crummy'.  Much to Dell's credit, they allow blasting of their product and methods in a public forum when done in a professional and civilized way :)