Savvio, Cheetah, and Constellation Enterprise Server & Storage (SCSI/FC/SAS/SATA) drives

[slickwilly]

I recently bought some used Seagate drives for my StorageTek FLA300 array. The drives appear to have the lovely emc proprietary 12v only configuration. Drive specs are-

ST3300007FCV

Firmware: 6A16

Part Number: 9X1007-044

VDC +5 AMPS - 

VDC +12 AMPS 1.6

Is there anything I can do to modify these drives to make them work in my array?

[fzabkar]

I don't know anything about these drives, but is it possible that the FC and FCV versions may be identical in function and connector pinout, except for the unused 5V pins? If so, then couldn't you just plug them interchangeably into the same backplane?

You might like to compare your drive's pinout against Section 9.5.4 of the following document:

Cheetah 10K.7 FC Product Manual, Rev. D:
http://www.seagate.com/staticfiles/support/disc/manuals/enterprise/cheetah/10K.7/FC/100260916d.pdf

I'd confirm the location of the ground and 12V pins. If your drive matches the product manual for the ST3300007FC, then there shouldn't be any fireworks when you plug it in.

If you would care to upload detailed photos of each side of the PCB, I would be happy to analyse it for you. Many of the signals appear to be differential pairs (eg +Port A_out and -Port A_out), so these should be easy to spot. Typically there would be two thin parallel traces for each signal pair.

The PCB would also have several DC-DC converters which would derive the required lower voltages (eg Vcore, Vio) from the +12V input. Perhaps a +5V supply is also derived from the +12V (as is the case with external drives in USB enclosures).

[slickwilly]

My drives do match the ST3300007FC and I can plug them into my shelf without causing any damage. They just remain undetectable by the HBA Bios.

I will try to get some pics of PCB and upload them.

Thanks

[slickwilly]

Sorry about the delay. Here are the pics of the PCB. Let me know if these are detailed enough. Thanks for the help!

 

Back:

[fzabkar]

I'm sorry I'm slow in responding, but I had to do a bit of research.

The short of it is that I can't offer a reason why your drives are not being detected in your array. Whatever the reason, the absence of a requirement for an external +5V supply does not appear to have any bearing on the issue.

I found two sites which had boards similar to yours.

This one has a Cheetah 15K.4 ST3146854SS:
http://www.fcenter.ru/online.shtml?articles/hardware/hdd/27494

The PCB has much the same ICs as yours, with a few minor changes:
http://www.fcenter.ru/img/article/hdd/17_SAS/145815.jpg

This page has a photo of an ST3300007FC:
http://www.manufacturer.com/trade/i11330522-PC+case.html

The photo of the PCB doesn't show much detail, but it looks very similar to the Cheetah 15K.4:
http://www.manufacturer.com/cimages/buyLeads/www.alibaba.com/0108/v/PC_case.jpg

Therefore it appears that the Cheetah 15K.4 and the ST3300007FC are almost identical apart from the LSI Logic MCU nearest the interface connector. Obviously one MCU is an SAS version (L2A2661) whereas the other is Fibre Channel. In fact the ST3300007FC looks more similar to the Cheetah 15K.4 than your own ST3300007FCV.

I notice that the date code on the SDRAM of the Cheetah drive is week 04 of 2005 whereas the date on your own drive's SDRAM is week 07 of 2007. Therefore ISTM that your FCV model may be more recent than the FC version by 2 years. Significant differences are that your drive has 32MB cache whereas the Cheetah has only 8MB. Your drive also has a serial flash memory IC whereas both of the others have parallel flash.

The other obvious difference is the absence of an external +5V supply. I initially suspected that the FCV and FC boards may have been physically identical apart from an area dedicated to an onboard 12V-5V DC-DC converter. In fact both boards appear to have identical read channel ICs (Marvell 88C7500), same LSI Logic MCU (L2E2425), and the same motor controller (SMOOTH 100332744). This would suggest that they are functionally identical despite their physical differences. There does appear to be a 12V-5V converter in the bottom right corner of your component-side photo. I believe that's the function of the two coils nearest the mounting screw adjacent to the connector.

As for the fibre channel connector, the +12V supply pins are in the right place, as are the 4 pairs of differential port A/B in/out signals. These signals are evident on the component side as 4 pairs of horizontal traces.

In summary ISTM that the ST3300007FCV model is a more recent version of the ST3300007FC, with more cache memory. The connector pinout appears to be identical apart from the absence of the external +5V supply, and most of the important chips appear to be the same.

[bkittle]

The reason the drives are not spinning up is the EMC Firmware.  You need to take them back to generic firmware.  Its complicated. But it can be done.  The 12V only is not the issue. 

[slickwilly]

Thanks for the helpful info. Is there any adapter I can get to gain access to the drives so I can flash the firmware? Or, do I have to have access to a clariion array to do the firmware flash?

I've seen Fibre channel 12v t-card adapters for sale. Not sure if that would do it though.

[fzabkar]

Sorry, I've never seen an FC drive, let alone worked with one.

[bkittle]

Must be flashed in a CX expansion chassis.  All Mode pages need to be reset to Generic as well.

Then you can at least see it on a different bus.  Then you need to take it back to 512 byte and format.

[martyscholes]

You have Clariion disks and I have had nothing but good luck with them in Storedge A5200 arrays. I am running 21 of those disks now in two arrays with various firmwares, including 6A16, and they all run great. Some are 12v only disks, some not. The DMX disks wreak havoc on the loops and I can't get one Fujitsu drive to spin up, but the Clariion disks are great. Do they online in your array? Do they spin up? I chased the 12v only ghost for a long time, but my experience is that does not matter. Sorry for the poor formatting.