Non-Dell drives in T640 Server?

Hello

Yes, it is possible. We do not block the use of non-Dell drives on internal controllers supported in the T640. We only validate and support Dell drives, so whether not the drives will function will be trial and error on your part. Our controllers are designed to create warning messages and indicators when non-Dell drives are being used. You may have warning lights or messages that cannot be disabled if you use non-Dell drives. There may also be feature or functionality loss in monitoring, management, or controller features.

You can find more information about our PERCs on the PERC page and controller manual. If you choose to use non-Dell drives then it may be best to use the embedded controller in SATA mode. It will operate in a pass-through mode that will reduce the potential conflicts.

http://www.dell.com/perc/

http://www.dell.com/storagecontrollermanuals/

Thanks

If you use the embedded controller in SATA mode it will operate as a pass-through controller, it will not be a RAID controller.

Drive carriers are only sold with drives, for most of our servers. If you order a T640 with 4 drives it will come with 4 drive carriers. If a diskless configuration is available as a purchase option then it will not come with any drive carriers. We do not sell drive carriers without drives, for most systems. There are a few exceptions, the T640 is not one of the exceptions.

You can buy the carriers from suppliers though.

https://www.yobitech.com/X7K8W-0X7K8W-SAS-3-5-Hot-Swap-Tray-Caddy-for-Ge-p/x7k8w-gen14.htm

Hi flash,

thanks a lot for replying and for the tip!!!

Good to see I am not the only one :-).

I guess you have already some experience with installing and using non-Dell drives?

Regards,

Nikola

will non-dell drives cause the fans to spin at a higher rate, or will they remain unaffected?

you can always just manually control fans through IPMI commands 

I didn't think you could with the t640

"they run higher to substitute for Dell programming the unit to yell, cry and stomp on the ground bc you didn't pay them 300% the price for a "dell cerrrrrtified" SSD ... bc ... they did something special to get that Dell logo, didn'tcha know?"

You are misinformed and missing the point. Dell marks up their stuff too much, BUT that doesn't mean you shouldn't use Dell-certified products, that there isn't a REAL difference, or that you should have to pay that kind of money for their stuff. JUST DON'T BUY IT FROM THEM! Third-party suppliers like Xbyte and ServerSupply sell Dell-certified products at a much more reasonable price - sometimes half or less. You can even have that third-party-sourced, Dell-certified hardware integrated into your server's warranty with Dell. I have had Dell replace drives under the server warranty that were purchased from Xbyte.com. You can save $thousands by getting Dell-certified parts from suppliers - memory and storage, primarily. If you get non-certified, there is no guarantee it will work right - Dell won't guarantee or in many cases even help troubleshoot. Why? Because there are too many things that can go wrong with non-certified drives - mainly mismatches in programming vs what the controller expects of the drives. There are real differences in their programming. Some generic drives don't even know the expected protocol for communicating their drive type to the PERC, so the PERC (and the server) drop their settings to the lowest common (and allowed) denominator. Sometimes that is enough, and sometimes it's not (fans speed up to anticipate problems from the unknown, drives fail randomly, don't fail but LED's indicate they have, they don't show up, etc.). Rule of thumb: if the data or service the server is providing is critical, get the right components. If you don't mind messing around with desktop and laptop parts in servers and are just looking to use what you have or buy the cheapest thing you can find, then go for it - it may or may not work. If you are looking to save money, get a generation-older server second-hand with the right parts - they are still relevant and reliable, much cheaper, and still supported.