Now days it can make a difference.  We've had HP out upgrading firmware
on FWSCSI and disk drives.  Some of the problems fixed (not sure if it
was for FWSCSI card or drive) included incorrect odd byte transfers, and
disconnects.  HP firmware may (not sure) also be different as a means
to  provide better diagnostics with Predictive and STM.

"Graham, Robert" wrote:
>
> I'll offer this for however much (or little) it may be worth.
>
> Three or four years ago, I upgraded the two 2Gb drives on a 928RX to the then-new 4Gb models.  There was nothing wrong with the drives; we just needed more room.  I don't remember the part numbers, but the ones in Steve's original posting look vaguely familiar.  Anyway, the drives turned out to be common production-run Seagates...so common that I found them listed by part number in the upgrade manual for one of our Compaq servers.
>
> To make a long, dull story short, I changed the jumper setting on what had been LDEV1 to reflect a slave drive and installed them both in a Compaq Prolinea.
>
> When I left that madhouse in 1998, both drives were still humming along as if they had been born there.
>
> There are two morals to this story.   First, as has already been noted, SCSI is SCSI, and second, HP firmware on what is apparently a generic drive seems sort of pointless, and may be a figment of our collective imagination.
>
> Bob Graham
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From:   v - Steve Dirickson
> Sent:   Friday, June 30, 2000 6:01 PM
> To:     [log in to unmask]
> Subject:        Re: Seagate vs HP firmware on ST34573
>
> > I have a ST34573N Seagate/HP drive which I had intended to
> > use in my 918lx.
> > It has the Seagate part number 9J4001-030 which indicates it
> > is OEM'd for
> > HP.
> >
> > However, it is now dead and HP is refusing to replace it
> > claiming the warranty
> > has run out and we did not have it on a maintenance contract.  Seagate
> > won't look at it either claiming it was made for HP.
> >
> > I am having trouble finding this drive at a reasonable price.
> > (I don't consider
> > $350 for a 4GB 8 bit scsi drive reasonable)
>
> Correct, though it's a pretty good price for a box of 5.
>
> > I have seen the Seagate ST34573N drives with the Seagate part number
> > (9J4001-010) for a fraction of the price of the HP model.
> >
> > Has anyone used this drive in place of the HP model?  Has anyone had
> > any success removing the PCB from a HP drive (assuming the mechanicals
> > are dead and the PCB is good) and putting it on a seagate drive?
>
> SCSI is SCSI.
>
> Check misc.forsale.computers.storage for the going rates on used drives.
>
> Steve Dirickson   WestWin Consulting
> [log in to unmask]   (360) 598-6111