Help with Server & WD Red

[KoyaGeraldMo]

We have a Lenovo x3500 M5 server here in our office and would like to add a WD Red HDD.

Is there a compatibility issue? Is it okay to install it? Our vendor says it would void our warranty because the hard drive is a third party hard disk.

[Master Disaster]

A hard disk is a hard disk, as long as the server has free SATA ports it will be fine.

[KoyaGeraldMo]

1 minute ago, Master Disaster said:

A hard disk is a hard disk, as long as the server has free SATA ports it will be fine.

That's what I would have to check. It has hot swap bays upfront but they didn't provide extras for additional drives, I should check the inside first.

[Trevor87]

This help you http://systemx.lenovofiles.com/help/topic/com.lenovo.sysx.5464.doc/c_hdd_installation.html you should be good with WD Red You could also have look the Segate equivalent. 

[Morgan MLGman]

25 minutes ago, Master Disaster said:

A hard disk is a hard disk, as long as the server has free SATA ports it will be fine.

Generally yes, however it depends on the device, there are devices which need dedicated HDDs and you can't even change the drive order sometimes (For example in some NetApp's FAS hybrid flash arrays).

[Erkel]

Depends on the current disk config and how much you care about your data.

 

Use the WD gold drives in critical production stuff.

 

 

[brwainer]

Your vendor and Lenovo won’t provide warranty coverage for anything that involves the WD disk (i.e. if you build a RAID array that includes it and exxperience issues with that particular array) - but they can’t invalidate the overall warranty for parts that are unrelated, like if the CPU or RAM or system board develop an issue. I’m fairly sure in the US there is a law protecting you in that case. A vendor can’t prevent or punish you for using third party equipment but they don’t have to support it either (something like a switch that only accepts SFPs that have some magic number on them is considered a feature, it doesn’t really prevent you from using third party equipment)

 

3 hours ago, KoyaGeraldMo said:

That's what I would have to check. It has hot swap bays upfront but they didn't provide extras for additional drives, I should check the inside first.

Based on the product guide for this model, there is two areas for hard drives in the front, and each can be either 6x 3.5” or 16x2.5”. If you have a 3.5” section already and it has less than 6 drives in it, then you just need to get an empty drive caddy (look on amazon, ebay, or ask your vendor for an “x3500 m5 drive caddy”). If your 3.5” section has 6 drives and the second section of the system is empty (neither 2.5” nor 3.5”) then you will have to upgrade the server with the extra drive bays and possibly another raid adaptor or sas expander to provide enough ports - your vendor will be able to do this for you in a way that maintains your existing warranty and warranties the new parts also.