Dell certified drives only with PERC H700?

All I saw when I posted was Mark's question and tshubert's reply.  The question was about the H700 block, which has been lifted.

LOL!  It seems Dell is still also censoring these forums.  It appears that they deleted the message which I had replied to:

"Replied to by bobglen

Nw you can imagine my anger, specifically asking the Salesperson if I can use my own SAS drives on a MD3200, having this confirmed. Purchaseing  all the Mounting brackets and four SAS controlers and now finding out I cant use my drives.. The Salesperson also refsuing to take my calls (from Tarsus South Africa) Sneaky very sneaky Dell...Not funny Great product but really not amused to have a gun cocked and loaded and pointing at my head.
 
Tyranny is holding a gun while you take my money. Freedom is giving me a choice.  You want to use your drives,?  "You are on your own"  This is I have always understood and accepted . Not Amused"

THEFLASH1932 does not seem to realize that bobglen was complaining about the same problem with the MD3200 which he recently experienced.  Or am I mistaken?

hubby is a bit behind the times here, trying to get you all riled up over nothing.

Originally, Dell chose to block non-certified drives on the H700, but later removed that block via firmware update, allowing non-certified drives to be used.  This update was released over a year ago.  If your drives are being blocked, then update the firmware to the latest version.  Also ,if you are trying to use an H700 in a 1900, as it is not supported, make sure your BIOS and ESM are also up to date.

Maybe a thread called "Dell claims to support standards when it really does not" would fit.  Or "Is Dell Engaging In False Advertising?"  or "Can Dell Learn From Past Mistakes?"

When I see bobglen's post about the MD3200 it is like reopening an old wound I thought had healed.  It is so terribly disappointing and I share bobglen's frustration and upset and anger.

Having been in this industry for more than 30 years now I am amazed when history repeats itself with stupid marketing decisions which lead to eventual failure.  Novell did similar things to what Dell is doing in this instance back in the mid-80's and it lead to the eventual loss of a very large consultant base.  I was a Direct Gold Novell Reseller back then so I know first hand how foolish companies like Dell are when they start to think that they are so big that they can do what they want with impunity.  These shortsighted marketing decisions create snowball effects which gain momentum, slowly at first, but eventually result in substantial loss of market share.  IT is far easier to keep customers than it is to generate new ones and it is still easier to get new customers than it is to recapture previously loyal but now disgruntled customers.

I would bet Dell's Product Manager is some wet behind the ears kid in his early thirties with bright ideas but no historical perspective.

I don't want to start an argument (again), but it isn't so the OEM can tout their product as superior to everyone elses, the firmware tweaks to the certified drives provide an OEM-developed method of performance and reliability standardization so they are able to guarantee anyone who purchases their product that it will work.  Many problems have been attributed to the incompatibility of generic firmware with OEM controllers (not just Dell), and this may have simply been Dell's way to make a more reliable product - eliminate the incompatibilities that plague their systems' performance and reliability.  Do I like paying more for the drives?  No, but when faced with wrestling with possible incompatibilities and potential issues, making my life a misery, I'll take the easy way.  (The same Dell certified drives are much cheaper from suppliers than from Dell directly - something that really irks me too.)  

If that is the case, the controller should be marketed as a Proprietary Dell Interface "Optimized for peak performance" and sold at a premium as one option.  It should not be marketed as an SAS controller since it is not really SAS compliant (because of the blocking of non-Dell brands).

I think a combination of the two is a good idea (although no OEM out there has done this), but because the controller is still actually a SAS controller (does it actually say in the spec that to meet the standard it must be open to all brands not meeting specifically-tuned criteria - otherwise, why even have the tunable options in the spec?), it must be marketed as SAS, otherwise most people looking for SAS performance will skip over it, not knowing that it is the same thing.  Unless the SAS spec specifically prohibits blocking of non-certifed drives on a controller, I don't see how it is even necessary or helpful to anyone to exclude the SAS label, although a warning to its limitations/specializations would be warranted.

Indeed, if Dell were truly offering a higher quality product at their higher price than it would be something the market would naturally want to buy, in some instances where the higher price could be justified.  But when they are merely rebranding a lower quality product (the last time I mentioned the brand the moderator used that as a justification for deleting my post even though the brand is written right on their drive itself) it is absurd to make claims that it is somehow better because it has the Dell name on it.

This is what Novell tried (and subsequently failed) during the mid-80s.  Novell took Samsung brand server computers which retailed for $1800 (base machine) at the time and sold them for nearly double the price after putting a Novell sitcker on the front of the box.  Swear to God, that is what they did.  No real value added...just rebranding.  They lost a lot of us resellers during those years.

The warning on the configurator stating "This controller will ONLY work with Dell Branded drives" must be included otherwise this is a bait and switch.

Otherwise, what is to stop a company from BLOCKING certain devices on USB ports or other STANDARD ports from operating if they are not also their own brand?

With the right firmware you can use any drive.That has been gone over many times in this thread.

Thanks for hijacking my thread. LOL

It may have been for something else.  I am fairly critical of some of Dell's products and/or practices and have never had a post removed for other than one time I swore when I should[n't] have.  The posts, even if they are deleted by the auto-moderator or a manned moderator, come through email ... which one was deleted?

Better yet ... a warning on the website to keep people from ordering with that intent in the first place.  Even better still ... more even and competitive pricing on certified drives, enabling the masses on a budget to get the recommended and supported hardware.

lol ... your original question does seem to have been answered several times over :)  (I think the Rockstars are making some progress on working Dell towards being able to lock old threads ... we'll see :))