36gb drives in Proliant 5500

[Mezlo]

I have acquired an old Proliant 5500 server with quad Pentium Pro 200 processors and 1 Gb of RAM. The server currently has seven 4.3Gb drives in it (P/N: 242591-013) connected to a Compaq Smart Array 221 raid controller.

I am interested in putting in larger HDs in the server, but while looking online, 36.4gb HDs in the proper carrier (P/N: 176498-B21) are much more expensive than bare 36.4gb 80pin drives.

My question is, if I bought bare 36.4Gb 80pin drives (such as Seagate ST136403LC) and put them in the 4.3gb carriers, would the backplane and 221 raid controller properly identify the drives? I'm not concerned about the drive height difference since I would just leave the top cover off of the carrier.

I would greatly appreciate any information you can provide.

Mezlo

 

[ntinlin]

Should work if 1600 and 221 are at latest ROM revisions. However you will lose the 'command and control' aspects of Insight Manager if you use non-Compaq drives.

Neill

 

[Mezlo]

Thanks for the info. I didn't know if the circuit board on the carrier caused any type of limitation or identification issues. As for Insight Manager, this is a standalone server which I don't intend to run any type of management software on so that isn't an issue.

Thanks again,
Mez