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We need a new internal SCSI disk for our HP9000. The failing disk is a
Seagate ST34572WC.

I've been told that the replacement disk must be purchased from HP,
because it has a "special BIOS" branded on the device. Is this true?
Can't I just insert and format a "compatible" SCSI disk?

Thanks in advance for any replies.

> We need a new internal SCSI disk for our HP9000. The failing disk is a
> Seagate ST34572WC.
>
> I've been told that the replacement disk must be purchased from HP,
> because it has a "special BIOS" branded on the device. Is this true?

Not in the slightest, we've used all sorts of drives in HPs over the
years with no problems.

--
Who needs a life when you've got Unix? :-)
Email: john@unixnerd.demon.co.uk, John G.Burns B.Eng, Bonny Scotland
Web : http://www.unixnerd.demon.co.uk - The Ultimate BMW Homepage!
Need Sun or HP Unix kit? http://www.unixnerd.demon.co.uk/unix.html

Ben Arnold <biker35@earthlink.net> wrote:
> I've been told that the replacement disk must be purchased from HP,
> because it has a "special BIOS" branded on the device. Is this true?
> Can't I just insert and format a "compatible" SCSI disk?

Depends I suspect on whether you are happy with "works" or require
"supported." That may also depend on whether you get your hardware
support from HP, or from some other source.

In HPSpeak:

Supported, known to work -> warm fuzzies all around
Supported, not known to not work -> an HPite may be in trouble
Supported, known to not work -> an HPite is in trouble
Unsupported, known to work -> lucky today, unlucky tomorrow?
Unsupported, not known to not work -> there but for the grace of Turing
Unsupported, known to not work -> no, it was not deliberate ;-)

Historicaly at least, there has indeed been HP-specific firmware in
the SCSI discs for the HP 9000's. There were conditions that HP would
test and functionality that HP wanted working that didn't always work
"properly" with the OEM firmware. Mostly (IIRC) to do with corner
cases, boundary conditions, perhaps clustering.

--
oxymoron n, Hummer H2 with California Save Our Coasts and Oceans plates
these opinions are mine, all mine; HP might not want them anyway...
feel free to post, OR email to raj in cup.hp.com but NOT BOTH...

In article <d8Dnb.7949$6A4.4808@news.cpqcorp.net>, Rick Jones wrote:
> Ben Arnold <biker35@earthlink.net> wrote:
>> I've been told that the replacement disk must be purchased from HP,
>> because it has a "special BIOS" branded on the device. Is this true?
>> Can't I just insert and format a "compatible" SCSI disk?

> Historicaly at least, there has indeed been HP-specific firmware in
> the SCSI discs for the HP 9000's. There were conditions that HP would
> test and functionality that HP wanted working that didn't always work
> "properly" with the OEM firmware. Mostly (IIRC) to do with corner
> cases, boundary conditions, perhaps clustering.

Indeed, there was a time when there were differences between server
(s800) and workstation (s700) disks for HP9000 - same disk hardware
with different firmware. I think we still have some of these around.
Something about "multiuser" firmware... these are all HP-branded disks,
and back then some of them were even HP-made.

I would definitely go for a HP-branded disk for a cluster environment.
But, specifically _not_ a ST318203LC with HP01 firmware ;-) ...

As the generic disk is likely marketed for someone's Linux or Windows
server, it probably doesn't need to do all that complicated stuff right
- like handling more than one HBA on the bus, or even just a single HBA
with some other ID than 7. And we all know that either or both of those
happen regularly with HP-UX...


--
Mikko Nahkola <mnahkola@trein.ntc.nokia.com>
#include <disclaimer.h>
#Not speaking for my employer. No warranty. YMMV.

We have put seagate and currently put maxtor disks in our HP9000
workstations => no problem at all

Frederik

"Ben Arnold" <biker35@earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:cb515546.0310281406.2bf4afac@posting.google.c om...
> We need a new internal SCSI disk for our HP9000. The failing disk is a
> Seagate ST34572WC.
>
> I've been told that the replacement disk must be purchased from HP,
> because it has a "special BIOS" branded on the device. Is this true?
> Can't I just insert and format a "compatible" SCSI disk?
>
> Thanks in advance for any replies.

Ben Arnold wrote:

> We need a new internal SCSI disk for our HP9000. The failing disk is a
> Seagate ST34572WC.
>
> I've been told that the replacement disk must be purchased from HP,
> because it has a "special BIOS" branded on the device. Is this true?
> Can't I just insert and format a "compatible" SCSI disk?

Well, You can use any generic SCSI disk You want, You don't need necessarily
a HP disk.

It's true that some HP drives are OEM drives with HP firmware, but usually
there is no big difference between HP firmware and original firmware. HP
firmware usually is generic firmware that has been tested and verified by HP
to work flawlessly and that got a modified ident string so the disk
identifies itself as HP drive which is necessary for most drives to work
with the diagnostic software...

Otherwise, generic disks will work as fine as HP disks...

Benjamin

Thank you all for your replies. I'll try a "generic" disk in our test machine.

Regards,
Ben

"Benjamin Gawert" <bgawert@gmx.de> writes:

> It's true that some HP drives are OEM drives with HP firmware, but usually
> there is no big difference between HP firmware and original firmware. HP
> firmware usually is generic firmware that has been tested and verified by HP
> to work flawlessly and that got a modified ident string so the disk
> identifies itself as HP drive which is necessary for most drives to work
> with the diagnostic software...
>
> Otherwise, generic disks will work as fine as HP disks...

Someone once (years ago) told me that some workstations could use
generic drives just fine when the OS is up, but only HP-branded drives
would be detected as bootable by the WS's firmware.

I don't know what WS models would have this limitation (if any)...
and firmware updates may have changed the situation.

--
Matti.Kurkela@welho.com

Matti Juhani Kurkela <Matti.Kurkela@welho.com> wrote:
> "Benjamin Gawert" <bgawert@gmx.de> writes:
>
>> It's true that some HP drives are OEM drives with HP firmware, but usually
>> there is no big difference between HP firmware and original firmware. HP
>> firmware usually is generic firmware that has been tested and verified by HP
>> to work flawlessly and that got a modified ident string so the disk
>> identifies itself as HP drive which is necessary for most drives to work
>> with the diagnostic software...
>>
>> Otherwise, generic disks will work as fine as HP disks...
>
> Someone once (years ago) told me that some workstations could use
> generic drives just fine when the OS is up, but only HP-branded drives
> would be detected as bootable by the WS's firmware.
>
> I don't know what WS models would have this limitation (if any)...
> and firmware updates may have changed the situation.

Urban legend. That has never been the case. The firmware changes
always were *enhancements*, mainly performance/reliability ones, never
(in)compatibility ones. As other posters mentioned, *formal support*
and diagnostic support *are* issues for non-HP (branded) drives.

Frank Slootweg schrieb:
>
> Matti Juhani Kurkela <Matti.Kurkela@welho.com> wrote:
> > "Benjamin Gawert" <bgawert@gmx.de> writes:
> >
> >> It's true that some HP drives are OEM drives with HP firmware, but usually
> >> there is no big difference between HP firmware and original firmware. HP
> >> firmware usually is generic firmware that has been tested and verified by HP
> >> to work flawlessly and that got a modified ident string so the disk
> >> identifies itself as HP drive which is necessary for most drives to work
> >> with the diagnostic software...
> >>
> >> Otherwise, generic disks will work as fine as HP disks...
> >
> > Someone once (years ago) told me that some workstations could use
> > generic drives just fine when the OS is up, but only HP-branded drives
> > would be detected as bootable by the WS's firmware.
> >
> > I don't know what WS models would have this limitation (if any)...
> > and firmware updates may have changed the situation.
>
> Urban legend. That has never been the case. The firmware changes
> always were *enhancements*, mainly performance/reliability ones, never
> (in)compatibility ones. As other posters mentioned, *formal support*
> and diagnostic support *are* issues for non-HP (branded) drives.

Only applied to HP-UX 9.x
This supported only limited disk geometries as a boot device,
but there is a way to use even these with third party disks.

Gereon W.