compatible drives with raid controllers 1

[LEARNIN123]

Can anyone tell me why some drives are not compatible with raid controllers. I have a smart 2/DH raid controller with 4 4.3 gig drives in hot swap trays and want to create a new array with 4 18.2 gig drives. If I use any other drives I have (compaq ibm) I can create the new array, however, if I use the 18.2 gig drives (fujitsu) it will not recognize them.

I installed them in trays and tested each without the raid card and smartstart sees them just fine. When I install the raid card and power up, they immediately (after post) fail and can't be seen

Any ideas?

Thanks

David

 

[anawrocki]

Sounds like a firmware issue. I belive for them to work they have to have S.M.A.R.T. technology built in to the drive firmware. I also know that Compaq has proprietary firmware on the drive, even if the drive was manufactured by Quantum, Seagate, Etc to allow for pre-failure alerts.

If this were a mission critical system I would advise you to use only compaq drives specified as compatible with your RAID controler.

I have swapped unsupported drives in and had them work out. But I have only myself to blame if the RAID set goes to hell down the road.