Servers - Non-warranted hot-swap hard disk drives

Resolving The Problem

What is happening?
IBM will be implementing measures to alert customers, business partners, resellers, etc. when non-warranted hot-swap hard disk drives are being installed, configured or updated in IBM xSeries systems.

Why is IBM doing this?
IBM has observed a growing trend where non-warranted hot-swap hard disk drives are being installed using trays that are copies, knockoffs or counterfeit. Because of this:

• Should the drive require replacement it is NOT covered under warranty
• The drive may not perform as expected
• The tray could cause intermittent drive failure
• The tray may not adhere to industry specifications

Our Promise of Value to you!
You have made an investment in your business by purchasing IBM products. Your hard disk drive is at the heart of your data. To protect our promise of quality, reliability and performance IBM dedicates enormous amounts of time, resource and testing to ensure that your hard disk drive meets or exceeds our specifications, as well as ensuring compatibility with your system or enclosure. When non-qualified drives or non-supported hot-swap trays are installed we cannot predict the reliability or warrant the replacement of that drive.

What specifically is being done?

1. A security label will be applied to the cover of every hot-swap drive.
2. A label will be applied to the front of the hot-swap converged tray.
3. The hard disk drive firmware update program will now identify non-warranted drives.
4. ServeRAID will identify non-warranted drives and log a warning alert.

When and how will the rollout take place?
As IBM releases new part numbers the labels will be applied until the full line of hot-swap drives are covered. The Firmware Update program and the ServeRAID utility modifications will be implemented in upcoming releases.

Who should I contact if I believe I have non-warranted drives?
You should contact the source of your hard disk drives.