PowerEdge R630 with PERC H330 Mini not able to initialize Seagate SAS disk used previously in EMC frame.

Dragec,

The issue you are seeing is likely due to the drives firmware, which is locked to the EMC device type. Although there are drives out there with the same part numbers, drives intended for EMC, Equallogic, as well as compellent all have firmware specific to them, and those drives can't be used on other devices. So that is likely the reason you are seeing what you are seeing. 

Let me know if this helps.

@DELL-Chris H ​ If it's locked to EMC device type how can I see all information on iDRAC when PERC H330 Mini is switched to HBA? Each of four disks are in "Ready" state, has 1676.16 GB available and Block Size is 4160 bytes. And none of the OSs can see those 4 SAS drives, that's weird to me and I would like to know if Dell PowerEdge R630 with latest firmwares and drivers is OK or I need to do something else to enable usability of those SAS disks.

Thanks,

Dragec

Tried to us sg3_utils and all I can see after 'sg_scan' is enclosure BP13G+ with which 'PERC H330 Mini (Embedded)' controller is associated.

Merchant from whom I purchased these disks says "... all erased and tested good... with more than 90% available space...".

Is there anything I can do before I send these to merchant?

Thanks,

Dragec.

I asked this question to Seagate Tech Support and they say PowerEdge BP13G+ enclosure may not support Seagate SAS 10K disks with 4160 bytes native formatting. Can you elaborate on this?

Thanks,

Dragec

Hi,

It's hard for me to say because we can officially recommend using Dell-labeled disks that are compatible with the R630. Although I don't see any direct information about this when I look at the manual, when I look at the spare parts section, I can see that there are disks with 512b, 512e and 4kn sector sizes. So, what's important here is whether the disks have firmware compatible with the R630.

I have another line support tech line open - with Seagate. Their assumption is that ST1800MM0008 drives may not have Dell-certified firmware. If that is the case how iDRAC shows all the details of each disk including SCSI address, block size and even "Ready" state but this information is not available to OS during the installation or after. 

Different situation is with Lifecycle Controller where PERC is not associated with Seagate SAS disks and also disks cannot be cleaned.

I think that's where the problem is. iDRAC can see more through interface with main unit but cannot execute many tasks independently, like formatting to 512K blocks, which is my goal.

Seagate suggests using SeaChest Utilities to format drives but that is questionable since none of OSs can see them.

OK, then I will probably throu away these disks and order another 4 disks with Dell firmware and see if it makes any difference.

Thanks,

DRago Kurkic

Let me share some screenshots from my iDRAC. The first one is Enclosure.

The second one - H330 Mini.

... and the third one shows physical disks.

What can we do in this situation since none of the OS installation processes can see any of SAS disks, only SATA?

And also why such a full set of information is available to iDRAC but not to installed OSs? Where is that breaking point, what driver is missing or what firmware can be updated and how? Is there firmware that Dell can provide for Seagate SAS drives similar type that can be pushed to drives using Lifecycle Controller?

Thanks,

Drago Kurkic

Hello, do you have a part # of the disk? You can also take a pic of the disk and show us if you like,

Hi, here is the picture of one. We have 4 of these. 

Thanks,

Drago Kurkic