Author: timbarrett

I’m sure everybody on Earth already knows this (and I’m just exposing my ignorance about computers – again), but I’d like to share a little tech tidbit in case some Google user runs into the same issue.

First off, before anyone asks, this is a small shop – they just want to buy one more year on their existing hardware before a refresh and SBS 2008.

Previous Configuration (slow, but works):

• Dell PowerEdge 400SC
• Windows Small Business Server 2003
• 1 GB RAM
• Dell CERC ATA100/4ch RAID controller
• 2 ea. Western Digital WD400 40 GB IDE drives in RAID1 mirror

New Configuration (faster, but missing about 120 GB):

• Same Dell PowerEdge 400SC
• Windows Small Business Server 2003
• 3 GB RAM
• Dell CERC ATA100/4ch RAID controller
• 2 ea. Seagate ST3160815A 160 GB Ultra ATA100 drives in RAID1

Issue: Removed the old WD drives and deleted the old array. Inserted the new Seagate drives, but the RAID controller only recognized them as 32248 MB drives (instead of 156250 MB). I didn’t order the parts myself, so I started to question the drives as being appropriate, but a double-check verified that they should work. Visual inspection of the jumpers on the new drives matches position on the old drives. I spoke with a Dell technician who was certain that the array was created wrong, but I told him that it misrecognized the drive size even before creating the array.

Resolution: While the Dell tech was searching, I rechecked the jumpers, and the new Seagate drives were in last position, exactly the same as the old Western Digital (position 1-2 shown below).

Western Digital (cable select)

The problem is that “cable select” on Western Digital drives isn’t in the same position as it is on Seagate drives (Seagate uses position 5-6 shown below).

Seagate (cable select)

To make matters even funnier, the Seagate drives only have 8 pins. Doh!

Once I pulled the Seagate drives, moved the jumpers to match the cable select position shown on the sticker on the drive (instead of the physical location on a different brand drive) the array controller immediately recognized the correct drive capacity.

Details, details, details… that’s what happens when you’re in a hurry.

In my feeble defense…

Exhibit (A) The Western Digital WD400 drive didn’t have a jumper sticker on top.	Exhibit (B) And the jumper setting is only shown in tiny print on the mobo of the drive.

But, yes, I’m still retarded. 🙂